Bexley man raises £10,000 for family of childhood friend in ICU with Covid

More than £10,000 has been raised for the family of a black cab driver who has spent four weeks in an induced coma after catching Covid.

Andy Watts, 39, from Bexley, tested positive for Covid on Boxing Day and was admitted to Queen Elizabeth hospital in Greenwich soon after.

The father of two is in the middle of a two year battle with cancer, meaning he is more at risk from the disease.

The fundraiser was set up by Mr Watts’ childhood friend Paul Andrea, 40, who will run a half marathon on February 27 for the family.

Mr Andea, who lives on Loampit Road in Bexley, said: “I can’t stress to you how much of a nice guy Andy is. I know it sounds very cliche that it always happens to the best people but it actually has.

“This family just don’t deserve what they’ve been through for the last two and a half years. We’re just hoping that Andy can start to recover and come home.”

Both Mr Watts and his wife Hayley, who works as a beautician, have lost work because of the pandemic.

Mr Andrea said: “I know that they’ve been really struggling with everything so I decided to start the GoFundMe last week with the initial target at £1000 just to help Hayley and the boys with some bills and put some food on the table and it passed the target within the first four hours and it’s just gone up and up since then really.”

The GoFundMe page has raised £10,995 so far.

Mr Andrea also said it has been difficult to support his friend’s family in the way he would like  because of the current lockdown.

He said: “It’s given me a bit of focus. I don’t feel so helpless, because with the whole situation with Covid we can’t see Andy and his wife can’t see him and we can’t go around and comfort them so it’s been pretty hard.

“They only live around the corner from me so we’ve been able to drop little bits round to them but it feels like we haven’t been able to give them the support that they deserve, so this has really helped with that.”

Mr Andrea has been training four days a week for his run, even in the snow.

He will be running the 13.1 miles with his twin brother Peter, who is also a friend of Mr Watts’.

He said: “Just thinking of Andy will get me through whatever happens. He’s had to fight for so long now that whatever pain I endure is literally nothing compared to what Andy’s been going through.”

To support the campaign, please visit https://gofund.me/d87b215e

Pictured top: (Left to right) Hayley Watts, Andy Watts, Paul Andrea and Natasha Andrea