One of the UK’s longest-suffering coronavirus patients is still vomiting daily after continuing to battle the deadly disease.

Jason Kelk, 49, has been in hospital since April 1 last year after contracting Covid-19 during the first wave of the pandemic.

He was bed-bound for almost a year before he took his first tentative steps along the ward in February, and has since improved hugely.

But despite this he is still receiving intensive treatment and his family say his lungs and kidneys have been ‘destroyed’.

His wife Sue, 63, told Leeds Live: ‘For a very long time, I was always told that it would be a question of if, not when, Jason would return home.

‘Now, it’s really looking like him coming home with me is a real possibility – we’re saying when and not if!’

Jason was taken off the ventilator he has been on for the past year in recent weeks, and has been able to go outside.

But he remains on intermittent renal dialysis, and has a tracheotomy, which means he vomits every day.

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He has also had further illnesses not related to coronavirus while in hospital, which has hindered his progress.

‘His kidneys and lungs had almost been completely destroyed and he has developed suspected gastroparesis,’ Sue added.

‘He had aspirated into his lungs so badly that he vomited a litre, this lead to him developing pneumonia.

‘He then had a cardiac arrest later in the year. It’s just been awful for him.’

Jason is now thought to be one of the country’s longest-suffering Covid-19 patients, with only a handful of people still in hospital like him.

When he first contracted the virus, the world knew relatively little on how to handle and treat it.

Jason was admitted to St James’ Hospital in Leeds on March 31, 2020, just a day after TV presenter Kate Garraway’s husband Derek Draper, who is thought to be the country’s longest-fighting Covid patient.

The primary school IT worker was struggling with a continuous cough and felt breathless when he first called the NHS 111 number to ask for help.

He was given antibiotics but after three days his condition deteriorated and an ambulance was called.

Jason was moved to ICU on April 3 last year, where he has remained ever since.

Although Sue said she doesn’t want to ‘get her hopes up’, as Jason has had a difficult and unstable recovery, her spirits have been higher since he has come off the ventilator.

‘It has been full of happiness and dark depression. It’s been a rollercoaster,’ she said.

‘I just want to be ready when we hear the words – Jason is ready to go home soon. But we do not know when that will be.’

His family have set up a GoFundMe page to help support Jason on his return home. It has raised more than £3,000 so far.

‘All the help that we’ve been given so far – I cannot thank everyone enough,’ Sue said.

‘It’s been really, really tough. Thank you all so much.’

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