*** You can watch a moving BBC South TV interview with Leon and Rilee Nurse and Mitchell Stokes below.
THE grieving father of a talented Basingstoke & North Hants cricketer who died of Covid-19 at Easter has urged people to stay at home, after his son lost his life to the virus aged just 43.
Leon Nurse said he is “devastated” after his son Lee died at Basingstoke hospital on Thursday morning, having been admitted nearly two weeks prior.
Lee was a lead player and former captain of Basingstoke and North Hants Cricket Club and played over 40 times for Berkshire. He was described by his father as “the best person in the world”.
Leon, who lives near Basingstoke’s May’s Bounty ground with his wife Christine, said his son was “fit and healthy” before catching the virus.
The 68-year-old said: “He got ill on a Monday and he laid in bed for a week and then all of a sudden deteriorated and we called an ambulance.”
Lee was eventually admitted to Basingstoke hospital on Friday, March 27 when he was sedated.
Leon didn’t get a chance to see his son before he died, because he had been in hospital himself with pneumonia, and was discharged on the same day Lee was admitted.
Obey guidelines
He said: “They told us he was getting better and they were reducing his oxygen, then Thursday morning they said he’s deteriorated. I couldn’t go to see him because I was ill as well.”
Leon said Lee’s 18-year-old son Rilee went to be with his father in hospital and was with him when he died, holding his hand.
He hopes that Lee’s death will be a reminder to people of the importance of following the government guidelines to stop the spread of Covid-19, and said: “If people carry on going out, this will never be over. People have to take heed of the government’s advice.
“You hear of all these people dying but you never think it will happen to you and when it does it’s devastating. It hurts. The worst thing was I couldn’t see him in person.”
Leon, whose youngest son Dean is a Basingstoke regular, said he was proud of the hundreds of tributes that have flooded in for Lee since his death, adding: “They are all tear jerkers.”
THE grieving father of a talented Basingstoke & North Hants cricketer who died of Covid-19 at Easter has urged people to stay at home, after his son lost his life to the virus aged just 43.
Leon Nurse said he is “devastated” after his son Lee died at Basingstoke hospital on Thursday morning, having been admitted nearly two weeks prior.
Lee was a lead player and former captain of Basingstoke and North Hants Cricket Club and played over 40 times for Berkshire. He was described by his father as “the best person in the world”.
Leon, who lives near Basingstoke’s May’s Bounty ground with his wife Christine, said his son was “fit and healthy” before catching the virus.
The 68-year-old said: “He got ill on a Monday and he laid in bed for a week and then all of a sudden deteriorated and we called an ambulance.”
Lee was eventually admitted to Basingstoke hospital on Friday, March 27 when he was sedated.
Leon didn’t get a chance to see his son before he died, because he had been in hospital himself with pneumonia, and was discharged on the same day Lee was admitted.
Obey guidelines
He said: “They told us he was getting better and they were reducing his oxygen, then Thursday morning they said he’s deteriorated. I couldn’t go to see him because I was ill as well.”
Leon said Lee’s 18-year-old son Rilee went to be with his father in hospital and was with him when he died, holding his hand.
He hopes that Lee’s death will be a reminder to people of the importance of following the government guidelines to stop the spread of Covid-19, and said: “If people carry on going out, this will never be over. People have to take heed of the government’s advice.
“You hear of all these people dying but you never think it will happen to you and when it does it’s devastating. It hurts. The worst thing was I couldn’t see him in person.”
Leon, whose youngest son Dean is a Basingstoke regular, said he was proud of the hundreds of tributes that have flooded in for Lee since his death, adding: “They are all tear jerkers.”
