A heartbroken wife has spoken of her heartache that she won’t be able to grow old with her husband after he lost his battle with Covid-19.

Michelle Coke’s childhood sweetheart Greg, 54, lost his fight with coronavirus on April 15 and she has paid tribute to the “wonderful and funny man he was.”

Michelle, 52, of North Avenue, Southend, explained how she and her 18-year-old daughter Amy last saw Greg, a dad-of-three, walking into Southend Hospital on April 1, assuming he would be out that day.

She said the family last spoke to him a week before he died, moments before he was sedated and put onto a ventilator.

“We told him we loved him. We couldn’t hear what he said back because of his oxygen mask,” she said.

Greg’s best friend Tony, 57, had passed away only weeks before with a sudden heart attack.

Mrs Coke, said: “The six days he was on a ventilator were so hard. We were waiting for the one phone call a day we were allowed.

“Amy was brilliant, she was trying to keep me busy.

“Time has stood still. It doesn’t feel like he died three weeks ago. We were planning on growing old together.

“It doesn’t feel like it’s happened still. Me and Tony’s wife Rosanne have been widowed in the space of two months. It’s such a shock.

“We used to go round there every Sunday for a glass of wine and a roast dinner.”

Michelle described how much she will miss her husband, adding: “We met when we were 17, and got married in 1993.

“He had moved back from America so he had an American accent when I first met him on the bus to work.

“He made everyone laugh and helped everyone with anything.

“He’d just got the garden how he wanted it with his man cave, and he’d bought his dream car, an Audi Q5 in October.”

Greg’s funeral was held at the Southend Crematorium on Monday, with 20 friends and family in attendance.