With lockdown keeping us confined to our homes, there’s never been a better excuse to spend all day on the couch playing ‘Warzone’, but that sort of sedentary lifestyle has cost at least one young man his life over the course of the pandemic.
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As per Metro, 24-year-old Louis O’Neil passed away from deep vein thrombosis last month after spending most of lockdown playing video games and not going outside.
Louis was furloughed from his job at Centre Parcs within a week of lockdown and like many of us sought comfort gaming with our friends online instead. His dad Stanley Greening, 56, said he tried to encourage Louis to occasionally leave the house but as the pandemic went on he became depressed and asked to be left alone.
He then started to feel unwell at the end of May and was told by 111 that he likely had food poisoning. However, he later complained of a pain in his leg and died at his home on June 3 before paramedics could arrive. His dad Stanley is now warning other families about the dangers of being inactive during lockdown, writing the following on Facebook:
Heartbreaking stuff. Like he says no one in a million years would have ever expected a blood clot, especially for a usually fit and active 24-year-old, and especially since so many of us spend 8 – 10 hours a day working at our desks and have been fortunate not to suffer the same fate.
Deep vein thrombosis is a blood clot in the vein, usually in the leg, which can be caused by long periods of inactivity, such as being confined to bed for too long or travelling long distances. Symptoms include cramping pain in one leg, swollen veins that are sore to touch and shortness of breath.
Dad Stanley went into more detail for MailOnline:
He was sitting there all day. He put on a little bit of weight on. I was encouraging him to come out with his little sister. He would say yes. He came out a couple of times to the shops, but it sort of fizzled out and he got a bit down.
I couldn’t make a 24 year old go out. I was nagging him and he was getting upset with me. He was saying leave me alone.
The family are now raising money for Youth Sports Trust in memory of Louis. Donations can be made here.
If you’re spending long hours playing video games or being inactive during lockdown, make sure you get up, move about and look after yourself. Go for a walk/run or get into the habit of doing some YouTube workouts or something. Like Louis’s dad says, if just one life can be saved from the lessons learnt from his son’s death, it won’t have been in vain.
For the teenage boy who died after receiving a love bite from his girlfriend, click HERE.
