HAPPY, smiling and together - this was the Gillans as a family of five for their last Christmas just over a year ago.
As the threat of covid began to hit home and the pandemic reached our shores, many families like the Gillans had been going about their routine as normal until the extent of the threat to life the virus posed saw the nation plunged into lockdown.
One year on since the first Scottish death to covid and first national lockdown, the family should have been looking forward to celebrating twins Ebony and Hope’s 21st birthday next month.
Read more: Covid one year on: families pay tribute to those lost to the virus
However, it will be tinged with sadness as the first anniversary of their father Mark’s death falls just days after their milestone birthday.
Jan Gillan, who was married to Mark for 23 years, said: “Mark and Ebony both were ill at the exact same time. They both had exact same symptoms but at different times, when Mark had one symptom, Ebony had a different. Then Mark would have the symptom Ebony had and she would have the symptom her dad had, this process went on for more than two and a half weeks.
Mark Gillan died in hospital from covid in April 2020
“They both took ill days after Mother’s Day last year. We asked for help from the proper channels and both self-isolated in totally different areas of the house.”
While Ebony, 20, took around four weeks to feel more like her normal self, Jan said Mark, 53, who she described as her best friend of 37 years, began to deteriorate.
“Mark clearly deteriorated so needed to be hospitalised,” she added. “As to date, no one has tested us or offered us testing. Luckily Ebony feels she has no long-term effects from covid. I have never had a positive result, but in November 2019 I was absent from my work with similar symptoms. Hope, Ebony’s twin was extremely ill with a lot of the covid symptoms around Christmas of 2019, but I suppose we will never know.”
Read more: Nicola Sturgeon says its right we pause to remember as lockdown anniversary minute silence is backed
Twins, Ebony and Hope, who have a younger sister Brenna, 19, were born on different days - Ebony at 11.50pm on April 5 and Hope at 1.30am on April 6.
Jan, 56, added: “Our twin girls have separate birthdays. Ebony’s is on April 5, she turned 20-years-old last year and Hope her twin turned 20 on April 6. It was that day Mark broke down in tears saying he didn’t want to be alone in the night and he didn’t want to die.
“The following morning Mark and I took our breakfast drinks out to the garden, he said he felt the best he felt in weeks, a short while after that, he said it’s time....he was referring to calling the hotlines. That afternoon was the last we saw of our loved one.”
With 24 hours of being admitted to Glasgow Royal infirmary, Mark, who worked in the Soapworks factory in the Queenslie area of the city, was placed on a ventilator and put in an induced coma from which he sadly never woke from. Mark died from covid on April 27, 2020.
“The decision was taken from us to turn the ventilator off, we were told they had a duty of care to Mark,” added Jan.
Mark, who had asthma and anemia, was described as a laid back, devoted family man and while a man of few words, his absence is sorely felt and we are just empty.
"The girls were real daddy's girls and he lived for them. He was the kindest person you could meet.
“It’s almost a year since we lost Mark and our twin girls will be turning 21 just days before the first anniversary of their father’s death. This will be their first birthday without him.
“Our story is like so many thousands of other families, our lives have been stolen from us by this horrific disease, and left us all unable to function in our family unit, as well as a massive whole in our hearts. We are still trying to come to terms with this trauma and all it entails.”
Mark Gillan was taken to Glasgow Royal Infirmary
It is stories such as what the Gillans have gone through that brought about the idea for a garden of remembrance to be able to reflect and think about loved ones.
The Herald is leading a campaign to create a memorial garden as a fitting tribute to every Scot who has lost their life to coronavirus.
Since it launched last year it has widespread support and a public fund has raised more than £43,000.
Glasgow City Council leaders Lord Provost Philip Braat and Council leader, Councillor Susan Aitken generously offered a site in the city’s Pollok Country Park for the location of the memorial.
To donate go to The Herald memorial garden go to gofundme.com/ herald-garden-of-remembrance. You can also send donations via post to The Herald Garden of Remembrance Campaign, Herald & Times, 125 Fullarton Drive, Glasgow, G32 8FG. Keep up to date with the latest news at www.heraldscotland.com/campaigns/memorial-garden/
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