https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/big-hearted-djs-heartbreaking-last-21769276?utm_source=mirror_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=EM_Mirror_Nletter_DailyNews_News_smallteaser_Image_Story3&utm_campaign=daily_newsletter'Big-hearted' DJ's heartbreaking last Facebook messages before coronavirus death
Danny Sharma, 38, shared daily updates from his hospital bed and he also posted a photograph of him with his thumb up. He died at Hammersmith Hospital at around 1 am on Thursday
By Jonathan Humphries & Chiara Fiorillo
22:00, 27 MAR 2020
A man who died after contracting coronavirus wrote daily updates from his hospital bed that he shared with his friends on Facebook. Danny Sharma, 38, had struggled with various health problems in recent years, including diabetes, which put him in a high-risk category for developing a severe form of COVID-19. On March 22, the DJ from Uxbridge, London, posted: "My life really sucks! Can’t believe I got the coronavirus."
Many people commented on his post, wishing him a speedy recovery after he was admitted to hospital. Danny was initially taken to Hillingdon Hospital, in Middlesex, according to the Liverpool Echo. As his symptoms got worse, on March 23 he was taken to the intensive care unit at Hammersmith Hospital. He wrote on Facebook that doctors wanted to put him in a seven-day coma to let his body recover but due to his underlying conditions that was not an option. On March 24, the Liverpool fan posted a selfie with a thumb up and the caption: "Day Four Update. Looks nice out from the window wishing I was participating in the Vitamin D. Finding hard to breathe, still fighting."
The Facebook post was his last update from the hospital room as before he died at around 1 am on Thursday. Danny's brother, 36-year-old Vinny Sharma, said he was sharing daily updates to encourage people to take the virus seriously. He said: "He was a fantastic guy with a big heart, and he is someone who we are going to miss a great deal. Hopefully, he will find some peace."
The Sharma family is of Indian heritage, and Vinny says it is traditional in his culture for immediate family to hold an open house for 12 days after a death so that wider family and friends can pay their respects. However, due to their recent contact with Danny, Vinny and his mum are now in self-isolation. He said: "Normally the door is always open, the stove is always on and your family is close around. I am in isolation, but it is not so bad for me because I have a partner and a little one, but my mum is all on her own."
Vinny said his brother was a huge football fan and before health and mobility problems took their toll would travel to watch Liverpool games at Anfield. Vinny also shared a video of Danny playing in a charity match at Anfield in 2009, which he said was a dream come true. He said: "He had a lot of mobility problems in recent years so it is strange to see him running around. I hadn't seen him running for a long time, but now he is at peace hopefully he can run again."
Closer to home, Danny was a major figure in local Sunday league football and was club secretary for Ivy Leaf Football Club, based out of the Ivy Leaf bar in West Drayton. Barry Wheeler, coach of the team and a close personal friend of Danny, told the ECHO: "He was such a big-hearted person. He had a very difficult life in a lot of ways with his health issues and a lot of people would have just given up, but he just put a smile on his face and he would do anything for anyone. He was a huge influence on the football community if you needed any advice or someone to speak to he would be there."
In the last 24 hours, 181 people in the UK have died after testing positive for COVID-19, bringing the total death toll to 578. Health officials have 11,658 confirmed cases of coronavirus.
