A father is left fighting for his life after a cobra bit him while he was fighting coronavirus in a hospital.
According to reports, Ian Jones was working with a charity-backed social enterprise he runs when he was diagnosed with coronavirus.
He is now in intensive care after the deadly snake bit him.
Mr. Jones’s family from the Isle of Wight called him a ‘fighter’ and said he has already suffered from dengue fever and malaria in India.
Seb, his son, said they are all hopeful that his father will manage to pull through and return home.
“He had not been able to travel home due to the pandemic and as a family we understood his desire to continue to support the many people who relied on him.”
Seb continued: “We were naturally concerned about him though and then when we heard he had also suffered what is usually a fatal snakebite on top of all that he had been through, we honestly could not believe it.
“It really has been touch and go, he is stable at the moment although he has paralysis in his legs and blindness, both of which we hope is temporary, but it is clear he is going to need to remain in hospital out there for some time to come.
“We are extremely grateful to his colleagues there who have been brilliant and rallied around him in his time of need, as indeed he did for them.”
The father’s charity, Sabirian, helps to train people to import and sell their crafts in a sustainable and ethical way.
The Community Action Isle of Wight has set a GoFundMe page for Mr. Jones to help raise money to cover medical bills.
“Ian was, at the time, already battling a second bout of Covid-19, having survived an earlier attack in March, when the snake bite took matters to a whole new level of severity,” the page reads.
“Ian suffered the potentially fatal bite whilst at his Jodphur base, where many of the local craftsmen and women that Sabirian support live and work.”
It adds: “Now facing, mounting medical bills and being unable to leave the country, we are setting up this Go Fund Me page in the hope of urgently raising some money to help meet the tens of thousands of pounds needed for his care, before he can return home to his family on the Isle of Wight.”
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