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Pauline Demaline was one of the first victims of covid to die in the United Kingdom and even now, months later, the grief amongst her family and friends is overwhelming. Her husband, Nigel, believes he can help by taking part in the search for a vaccine and he wants to as much as he can to protect others from getting ill.

Pauline was only 56 years old when she died, a fit and active woman who worked as the parish administrator at Holy Trinity Church in Skipton. She had been feeling ill and was tired, lethargic and short of breath, but thought that might be a recurrence of childhood asthma. It was in the first days of covid as the country was preparing to lock down and few knew what to expect as the virus took hold.

When lockdown came and with cases hitting the headlines, Nigel finally forced his wife of almost four decades, to go to hospital. Just a few days later and following a positive test for covid-19, she was dead. People locally were stunned and at the church there was confusion about what had happened, who else might be infected and how a funeral could be held to remember the woman they all cared for so deeply.

In this edition of The Untold, Producer Sue Mitchell follows Nigel as he talks to friends about the vaccine trial and makes his decision to go forward as a volunteer. Once he鈥檚 been accepted he meets Dr Dinesh Saralaya, who is heading the Bradford Royal Infirmary input into Novavax phase 3 trials that will include 10,000 people across the UK

Dr Saralaya believes the vaccine holds a real hope that people can begin to get back to their everyday lives, free of the worry of covid: 鈥淏radford is part of the global race for a vaccine and we are calling on our local community to get involved. This is the only way that we can save as many lives as possible during the pandemic.鈥�

Nigel does not know whether he will be given the actual vaccine or a placebo, but he is just happy to be taking part. He knows that Pauline would have approved, although she would have worried about the possible side effects: 鈥淚f I can save one person from going through what we鈥檝e gone through then it鈥檚 worth anything I can do. I wouldn鈥檛 want anyone else to suffer in the way that we have鈥� says Nigel

Producer: Sue Mitchell