THE mother of a man with Down Syndrome, who was battling for his life after contracting coronavirus, has spoken of how her son has been coping in the last year.

Late last April, Ben McCafferty, 35, was finally given the all clear and discharged from Bradford Royal Infirmary after bravely fighting the deadly disease for over a fortnight.

There wasn't a dry eye across the country when footage emerged of the emotional scenes of Ben re-uniting with his mum and carer Diane Margerison.

Almost 12 months on, Diane told the T&A her son has made a full recovery and is back to his normal self.

"He is doing absolutely brilliantly," she said.

"He tends not to be able to walk quite as far but apart from that, he is okay.

"He has got his sense of humour back; he is just Ben again. He has his off days like everybody, but most of the time he is good.

"I don’t think Ben really realised what was going on, I think it was worse for me and (husband) Neil.

"I was only thinking the other day when I was sat in the garden that a year ago the weather was nice and warm like this, and I was wondering what would come every time the phone rang.

"We are more than lucky. God must have been smiling on us in those two weeks because he came out of it and a lot of poor souls have not done. You have got to feel sorry for them people, it is dreadful."

The pandemic has caused disruption to every walk of life, especially for those with Down Syndrome who heavily rely on routine.

To help with this, Diane receives assistance from several carers who form a support bubble.

She added: "You cannot cut him off from everything, but he stays in that bubble.

"He used to go to go line-dancing and play football, but that has all stopped and he does not understand why.

"He just gets angry when you say it is not open today. He has just missed out on it all."

Both have had the AstraZeneca vaccine and gladly Ben did not suffer from any after effects. He is due his second jab in the next week or two.