Kirklees councillor honours NHS for saving his parents from deadly virus

Aafaq Butt was elected in Heckmondwike last year to represent Labour, but 12 months later he was at the heart of a devastating family crisis as both his mother and father contracted Covid-19 and were hospitalised.

Soon his mother was on a ventilator – and he and other relatives were forced to acknowledge Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s warning that many families were 'going to lose loved ones before their time'.

In a powerful address to the first-ever virtual meeting of full council, councillor Butt said: “No-one can truly understand how it feels when you speak to a doctor for them to tell you that, because this is a new condition, they cannot offer any words of advice from previous experiences but are working as hard as possible.

“It was only when my mum’s condition deteriorated and [she] was moved to intensive care for mechanical ventilation that the stark reality dawned upon us: that this wasn’t something to ignore.

“It wasn’t flu. It was something more sinister, something that attacked one of the vital bodily functions – the respiratory system, which eventually stops working because of the pneumonia.”

The impact of the health emergency meant coun Butt and his family were forced to endure 'one of the hardest times we have ever had to face' via the restrictions imposed by lockdown.

That meant not being together as a family and relying on ‘phone calls and family WhatsApp groups to keep in contact.

He said: “Thankfully we had something to hold onto, the fact that my parents had no long-term health conditions, which would eventually be a determining factor in whether they made it through or not.

“Luckily both made it out of hospital and are now on the road to recovery. For that, we are eternally grateful to the wonderful staff at Pinderfields who made this happen.

“It cements again the commitment and dedication NHS staff have towards patient care.”

In quoting the American author Pearl Buck, who said 'the test of a civilisation is in the way that it cares for its helpless members' he focused on those individuals who have battled the virus on the front line.

And he thanked local organisations such as the Magic Wishing Well organisation in Liversedge, Batley-based charity Purpose of Life, Bramwell Associates, Dewsbury’s Moonlight Trust, the More in Common volunteer group and Batley Food Bank as well as the mosques, churches, temples and others that had 'stepped up' to provide food and other essentials to people during lockdown.

“We have many heroes who on the front line have gone above and beyond in the face of danger to help people in many ways, and we are grateful," said coun Butt.

“But we also have so many examples from the voluntary and charitable sectors that have helped families with basic necessities throughout this time.

“We have our differences, be they political, religious, and cultural or socio-economic, but one thing that has really resonated throughout this difficult time is that we are ultimately one community.

“The work that our charities and volunteers have done, the work that we have done across this chamber from all parties transcend all these differences and shows again that when a crisis hits that doesn’t discriminate on colour, religion or politics, our response doesn’t either.”