A FAMILY from Tranent who all caught and suffered from coronavirus have thanked two local community volunteers for the support they showed them during what they said was “a nightmare of a time”.

The Dodds family have praised and thanked Joyce Thomson and Duncan McBride for the help and hot meals they provided to them after seven members of the family contracted Covid-19.

One woman, her two parents – who are both pensioners – sister, brother-in-law and two nephews all fell ill at the beginning of the month.

The woman, who did not want to reveal her first name, described the whole ordeal as a “nightmare”.

She first became aware that her father was ill after receiving a phone call from her mum requesting she phone an ambulance for him.

She said: “It was a nightmare of a time. It [coronavirus] ripped through the whole family.

“We’ve no idea where we caught it from.

“I had to self-isolate as I was around my family and trying to help them all out.

“My dad, who’s 86 years old, and my sister ended up in hospital and her two boys were eating hot meals made and provided by Duncan and Joyce.

“It’s not a nice phone call to get, when my mum asked if I could phone an ambulance for my dad.

“My sister was in hospital for three days, she was in a very bad way. She doesn’t smoke or drink and works full time but how it got hold of her is unbelievable. It was terrible.

“My dad wasn’t as bad as my sister and was able to go home from hospital the same day, he’s now on a course of antibiotics.

“I just felt bad and had to isolate at home, I was OK.

“They are both still recovering from it at home and still feeling the effects.”

A close friend reached out to Duncan and Joyce on the woman’s behalf on October 8, with the pair providing hot meals for her and her whole family while they were recovering both in hospital and at home.

She said: “We can’t thank Joyce and Duncan enough.

“We just want to tell them thank you for all of the work they did for us and others in the community going through a similar thing.

“We also want to thank all of our family and friends for all the help they gave us.”