The death of a New Zealand nurse — after he contracted Covid-19 working in a UK hospital — has left his family struggling with the way he died and wondering how long it could take to bring him home.
The family last saw Barclay Mason in February, a time they will always treasure.
“I wish it was longer, but I guess it would never be long enough now that he's gone,” his daughter, Casey O’Brien-Smith, told 1 NEWS.
Mason returned to the UK in March to continue his work at Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow just north of London.
A month ago, they got a call they'd dreaded: He'd tested positive for the potentially deadly virus after caring for patients on the Covid ward.
“I would have been there in a heartbeat if I could have been. I looked at flights when I heard he had Covid,” Casey's mum, Megan O'Brien, says.
Instead, they rang him nearly every day.
“I was able to speak to him a few days before he passed by the grace of God," his daughter Casey says.
But they never thought the 56-year-old would lose the fight.
His death on the other side of the world is further complicated by closed borders.
They don't know how long it will take to bring his body home so they can finally say goodbye.
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