Samantha Willis: I hope my story saves lives, says husband

THE husband of a beautiful Derry woman that tragically passed away with Covid-19 shortly after giving birth to their daughter in ICU has said he hopes their story can save “even one person”.

Josh Willis’ wife Samantha (35) passed away last Friday after contracting the virus, leaving behind her husband and four children.

The couple’s daughter Eviegrace was baptised in the same service as Samantha’s funeral on Monday.

Josh told RTÉ’s Today show that he hoped the family’s story would save “even one person”.

“I hope our story can help, that we can make Samantha proud, that we can save even one person,” he said.

The family contracted Covid in early August, and while Josh was fully vaccinated, Samantha was not. He said Samantha had initially followed public health advice to not get vaccinated while pregnant but the couple decided to wait until after Samantha gave birth for her to receive the vaccine once the advice changed.

“I was double vaccinated and I lost my taste and smell and that’s bad in itself when you’re hungry and trying to eat and everything tastes the same, but in the grand scheme of things I would take that the rest of my life, get Samantha back”.

Josh said with Eviegrace’s due date so close, the couple thought it wouldn’t make much difference if she waited until after the birth to receive the vaccine.

“We thought it wouldn’t make any difference, but it made the worst difference,” Josh said.

Josh said he had to break the news to his kids that “mummy is very sick and the doctors say she might die”.

The heartbroken father said his four-year-old daughter Lilyanna then asked: “Who will be my mummy then?”.

Samantha’s condition appeared to improve after the birth of their daughter but unfortunately her health deteriorated in the following days and when Josh was permitted to visit her, she was in a coma and lying on her chest.

“She was texting me before she went back to the ICU and was being really positive … so I just keep that in my mind, be positive.

“Standing at the graveside on Monday, I could nearly hear her telling me – ‘that’s it, we can’t change anything. Move on and sort the children out’.

“She would probably say, ‘just leave me here and forget about me’. I’m obviously not going to do that, but that’s the kind of person she was – putting herself last again.

“I have a lot of memories. I just wish I had more memories. She was loving, caring, a good wife, a good mother. She loved her job. She put everybody before herself,” Josh said.

The grieving father and husband said he will show Eviegrace and Lilyanna pictures of their mother but said their older children Holly and Shea are fully aware of the situation and are devastated.

Josh said he will try to stay positive as he “promised Samantha” that he would.

A GoFundMe page set up to support the Willis family has now passed the £11,000 mark.

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