When Vicky O’Neill casts her mind back to life during the pandemic, one date remains forever etched in her memory.
For it was on May 17, 2021, that husband John awaited his turn to have the newly-approved AstraZeneca Covid vaccine.
The doting father-of-two from Althorne, Essex, was considered more at risk from Covid-19 because of his asthma and was optimistic the jab could offer a ‘return to normality.’
Still, moments before his appointment, the then 41-year-old turned to his wife and said he was worried about the possible side-effects.
‘We were sitting in the car, just the two of us. And he said to me, «I’m going to go in and have AstraZeneca, and you’re going to have the Pfizer. That means if there’s any problems – because we don’t know much about these vaccines – at least there is still one of us here for the kids.»
‘I told him not to be stupid. He went in, had his jab and didn’t think anything of it.’
But the IT contractor’s words turned out to be a chilling foretelling of events that would forever change their lives.
Within the next 10 days, John suffered a devastating stroke that would leave him blind in his left eye, paralysed down his right side and 60 per cent brain damaged, among other permanent disabilities.
Doting father-of-two John O’Neill from Althorne, Essex, suffered a devastating stroke after having the AstraZeneca Covid vaccination in May 2021
John, pictured in hospital after his stroke, was left blind in his left eye, paralysed down his right side and 60 per cent brain damaged among other permanent disabilities
Amid the stress of their lives being turned upside down, John and Vicky revealed their 16-year marriage has ended and they are now going through divorce
As he and his family would later discover, John had suffered an extremely rare reaction to the Covid jab that causes blood clots with a low platelet count.
Known as VITT – vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis – medical experts said such a reaction would only happen to one in 50,000 people.
Four years on, John and his loved ones acknowledge just how lucky he is to even be alive – but the repercussions continue.
Now aged 46, John has been left a shadow of the man he once was, unable to work and needing full-time care.
The financial impact on the family has also been immense – with John confessing they have been ‘living on nothing’, and their beloved four-bed detached home is now up for sale.
Having received an ‘inadequate’ compensation payment from the Government, John fears he has become one of the ‘forgotten’ individuals whose lives changed immeasurably after they had the vaccine – and he has added his name to a 50-strong class action currently going through the courts.
In the latest consequence of this tragedy, the tremendous stress endured by the couple has brought an end to John and Vicky’s 16-year marriage, with the pair taking the difficult decision to divorce.
It’s a decision borne more out of necessity than desire, with both clearly devastated that events have turned out this way.
John suffered an extremely rare reaction to the AstraZeneca Covid jab that causes blood clots to form in major arteries alongside a low platelet count
Known as VITT – vaccine-induced immune thrombocytopenia and thrombosis – medical experts said such a reaction would only happen to one in 50,000 people
Four years on, John and his loved ones acknowledge just how lucky he is to even be alive – but the repercussions continue
Now aged 46, John – pictured with wife Vicky – has been left a shadow of the man he once was, unable to work and needing full-time care
Doctors found John had suffered a major stroke, originating in his optic nerve, that damaged 60 per cent of his brain, while his left carotid artery had become ‘completely occluded’
But after 25 years together, both agree it is the right thing to do for their children and are determined to remain heavily involved in each other’s life.
‘As you can see, we get on but everything has changed. John’s changed. I’ve had to change, and life is so very different,’ said a tearful Vicky, who has cared for her husband full-time over the last four years.
John, who still struggles with his speech in the aftermath of his stroke, simply nodded while dabbing away his tears.
Looking around the lounge of their comfortable home, vibrant family photos point to an array of happier times in their life.
Vicky had just turned 18 when she met John, an ambitious IT contractor who previously earned a six-figure salary.
‘We were very lucky. John worked really hard and we had a good life, like we’ve never asked for anything. I was working as a graphic designer for an architect in London.
‘We were both very career-minded, but we knew what we wanted. We bought a house together in Romford while we were still very young and we had our own cars. We done it all ourselves. You know, we had a good life.’
The couple married in 2008, and four years later had their daughter, Freya, now aged 13, followed by their son, Mason, now eight.
‘He’s been diagnosed with autism and ADHD so he’s 100 miles an hour, but the most amazing kid,’ Vicky enthused. ‘We had everything we wanted – life was good.’
Vicky and John pictured on their wedding day in 2008. The couple revealed the devastating toll the stress of their circumstances has had on their marriage
Vicky had just turned 18 when she met John, an ambitious IT contractor working for a law firm
The couple married in 2008 and said ‘life was good’ in the years running up to the pandemic
Five years ago, the couple decided to move from Romford to the more rural surrounds of Althorne to provide ‘a better life for the kids’.
They bought their current home and planned to renovate and extend the property, but plans were halted after the world was plunged into the Covid pandemic.
Both John and Mason, who was aged just four at the time, suffered from severe asthma and out of caution the family shuttered themselves off from seeing anyone.
‘We were extreme, we didn’t want anyone to visit because they both had asthma and we worried about the virus.
‘When this jab came out, we thought this is what we needed to get us back into the world again.’
At first, none of John’s initial concerns about the vaccine came to fruition. He experienced the typical flu-like symptoms reported by others after the first 24 hours, but otherwise seemed fine.
But as the days went on, Vicky noted that John seemed ‘extremely tired’ and had experienced fleeting moments of feeling sick.
Ten days after his vaccination, John awoke in the morning and complained of an intense pain in his left eye. After calling 111, he was advised by a doctor that he likely had a sinus infection and a prescription was issued over the phone.
John pictured with his daughter, Freya, before he suffered a life-changing stroke
Dedicated father John pictured with his daughter Freya and son Mason as youngsters
At first, none of John’s initial concerns about the vaccine came to fruition. Pictured: John with his son, Mason
Vicky recalled that she left the house to go and pick up the medication, only to find John saying the pain was ‘unbearable’ when she returned. Within hours, he began saying there was something wrong with his jaw and decided to return to bed.
But when he got up around 6pm, Vicky could see her husband was seriously unwell.
‘He walked in here, and he was grey and clammy. He said his vision had gone in one eye and couldn’t stop being sick. He pleaded with me to call an ambulance.’
A first responder arrived within minutes and suspected John, who by now was also slurring his words, was having a heart attack or stroke. When the ambulance arrived, he was taken off to Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford.
Despite the severity of his symptoms, the doctors believed at first that John simply had a migraine. But overnight he suffered a major stroke, originating in his optic nerve, that damaged 60 per cent of his brain. Consultants then discovered his left carotid artery had become ‘completely occluded’.
John would need to be transferred to the Royal London Hospital for a life-saving procedure to insert a stent, with Vicky warned by medics ‘he might not make it’.
She was told hours later that despite an initial problem the stent had been successfully inserted, but when Vicky went to visit her husband the next day she found him ‘in a state’.
‘He had a temperature. His left eye was completely shut. He was thrashing around and kept pulling his left leg up and groaning.’
Family life as they once knew it was completely upended after John reacted to the Covid jab
Vicky had previously noted at Broomfield that John’s leg had a strange ‘mottling’ around the ankle, but was reassured by doctors that this would be assessed after he was transferred to the Royal London.
However, when she asked if this had been done, a doctor seemed to be unaware of the issue.
‘I’d looked at his leg again and now he had these red blanches all the way up his skin. The doctor pulled the sheet back, and said «Oh my God. He’s got a haematoma.» He began shouting for the team and said John needed to be scanned quickly.’
Within hours, Vicky was approached by a haematologist consultant, who delivered devastating news: John had developed a condition known as VITT as a result of the Covid vaccine, which had caused his blood to start clotting in all the main arteries of his body.
The rash on his left leg was a major clot that had formed.
Vicky was asked to make a choice between John having his leg amputated or to start anticoagulation treatment including a plasma transfusion, but both procedures were ‘extremely life threatening.’
‘John was already paralysed on the right side by the stroke. He could not move, he couldn’t sit up, he couldn’t do anything for himself. He couldn’t even lift his own head.
‘The only thing he could do was lift this leg – and now they might amputate it.’
John is taking 17 tablets a day and remains ‘under every consultant possible’
Devastated by such a decision, Vicky said she believed John would not want to go ahead with amputation but would be guided by the doctors.
They agreed to go ahead with the plasma exchange, with John reacting well to the treatment. He remained in intensive care for weeks before finally being transferred back to Broomfield Hospital and a short rehabilitation stint at Homerton Hospital.
In all, John spent four months in hospital before coming home – but life would never be the same again.
He presently takes 17 tablets a day and remains ‘under every consultant possible’.
‘John struggles with his speech and has aphasia. He also has difficulties reading and writing and recognising numbers. He’s blind in his left eye. His carotid artery is now completely blocked, so doctors have to monitor him constantly to ensure he has no issues there.
‘The artery in his left leg is blocked. So he has no pulse below the left knee and that causes a lot of problems. If he walks even 10 metres he gets pins and needles because of the restricted blood flow.
‘His right leg was affected by the stroke and is now his weak leg.
‘He’s also now on the border of heart failure as a result of the stroke and we are getting him assessed for possible dementia.’
John, pictured with daughter Freya, was found to be eligible for the Government’s Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS), which offers a one-off financial payment of £120,000
Lifting his right arm and hand, John shakes his head before letting it drop. ‘That arm is nothing’, he added, showing he had lost the use of his limb.
With the benefit of hindsight, Vicky acknowledges that at the point John returned home in September 2021 – and she became his full-time carer – the challenges had only just begun.
‘Mason was starting school, and then Freya went back for the first time since the pandemic began – and we had to just try and be normal.
‘But when I look back now, I didn’t ever have any downtime. I had gone from my husband nearly dying to having to come home to look after the children and get them to be understanding of what was going on. And in all of this, I was still learning what was going on with John.’
There were also new concerns for Vicky around their finances.
‘John had been the main breadwinner, and all of a sudden he wasn’t there. We would be OK for a little while due to savings, but my husband has had a stroke and he’s not going to get better. I kept thinking what are we going to do?’
John has been eligible to claim Personal Independence Payment and Employment and Support Allowance, while Vicky has claimed Carer’s Allowance and been able to work a few hours each week to supplement her income.
‘But for a family of four, you just can’t survive on that,’ explained Vicky, who said they had struggled over the last four years and the couple have had no other option than to sell their home.
The family of four have struggled financially in the wake of John’s devastating health issues
John was found to fit the criteria for the Government’s Vaccine Damage Payment Scheme (VDPS), which offers a one-off financial payment of £120,000 in the event that a vaccine likely caused at least 60 per cent disablement.
In John’s case, that figure was found to be 90 per cent – but that money alone will not be enough to financially secure the family for the years ahead.
He has now joined a class action launched by Leigh Day solicitors against AstraZeneca, which was indemnified during the pandemic, and the Government, which would likely pay out if their claim is successful.
Lawyers representing victims and families are suing AstraZeneca under the Consumer Protection Act 1987.
They argue the vaccine was ‘a defective product’ that was ‘not as safe as consumers generally were reasonably entitled to expect’. AstraZeneca has strongly denied these claims.
Health officials first identified cases of VITT linked to AstraZeneca’s jab in Europe as early as March 2021, just over two months after the vaccine was first deployed in the UK.
On its website, Leigh Day stressed it was not an ‘anti-vaccination’ case.
‘It is however a case about fairness – a case in which we are trying to secure fair compensation for those families who paid the ultimate personal price for agreeing to be vaccinated during the pandemic.’
Vicky and John said the decision to separate has been ‘very difficult’ but still intend to be in one another’s lives
Vicky said if they were to be successful, the money would take away their financial stress – but tragically it would never bring back the life they once had.
‘I was lucky that we didn’t lose John, and our children were lucky that they didn’t lose their dad, but they have lost him in a huge way, in every way possible. He is still here, but he’s not the man he was.
‘It worries me going forward, because John has lots of issues and we don’t know how they are going to progress.
‘Money can’t buy happiness. It can make things stable, which is great, but it’s not going to change what happened. It’s not like having a broken arm that you can fix and go back to enjoying life, doing your job and taking the kids to the park.
‘It’s never going to happen for us.
‘John has been robbed of his life, and he can try and make another life for himself, but it’s always going to be limited because of what happened.’
Vicky is keen to stress that she and her family are not against vaccinations, but feels saddened their lives were upended simply because they tried to ‘do what was right’.
‘We just wanted to do right by our family, our friends, the country. We just wanted to do our part in getting back to normal.
John, pictured with daughter Freya, will never be able to work again after he was left with permanent disabilities following his stroke
‘But life is far from normal for us – and we just don’t know what the future holds.’
In a statement to MailOnline, Leigh Day partner Sarah Moore said: ‘As a result of his injuries, John will never be able to work again, or be the husband and father that he once was for Vicky and their children.
‘Presently the Government scheme provides them with a one-off payment of £120,000. That is less than John’s annual earnings prior to his injuries and is wholly inadequate to provide him with the specialist care that he needs to live with his injuries let alone provide for his family.
‘John stepped forward for vaccination at the Government’s request, along with thousands of others, and yet when he needs the Government to stand with him and his family by providing meaningful financial support they are nowhere to be seen.
‘John and others like him do not want to have to bring a legal claim, they want to put their energies into putting their lives back together.
‘The fact that they are having to do so should be a cause of national shame, the pandemic was a period of national solidarity and yet, in the aftermath when the country has moved on, those injured like John have been forgotten.’
Official data shows at least 81 Brits have died from blood clot complications apparently linked to the AstraZeneca jab, according to figures collected by the UK’s drug watchdog, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
A further unconfirmed number have been injured and/or disabled.
John’s case is now one of a 50-strong class action that has been launched by Leigh Day
Further Covid vaccine rollouts have either minimised use of the AstraZeneca jab and/or phased it out entirely in favour of mRNA alternatives like those made by rival pharma giants Pfizer and Moderna.
However, AstraZeneca’s jab is credited with saving some 6million lives globally during the Covid pandemic.
AstraZeneca previously said in a statement: ‘Our sympathy goes out to anyone who has lost loved ones or reported health problems.
‘Patient safety is our highest priority, and regulatory authorities have clear and stringent standards to ensure the safe use of all medicines, including vaccines.
‘From the body of evidence in clinical trials and real-world data, the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine has continuously been shown to have an acceptable safety profile and regulators around the world consistently state that the benefits of vaccination outweigh the risks of extremely rare potential side effects.’
