Flu jab: Wrexham man with asthma in coma nearly died twice

He said, looking back, “the two weeks in the coma was the easy part really”.

Nine months of recovery followed, including learning to walk unaided.

“It was hell if I’m honest. It was awful,” he said.

“It makes me feel a bit selfish really because it sucked everybody into that vacuum.

“My family, what I’ve put my family through, the ordeal they’ve had to go through.

“And it’s not just that ordeal, it’s the ordeal afterwards of having to get back into work, because I was off for nine months.”

Mr Blackwell said a nurse told him his medication, including ventilation, cost “up to £100,000 a day”.

At the time, Mr Blackwell and his partner were busy looking after their two-year-old son and he said he forgot to get his flu jab “because of life”.

He added the trauma of his illness was “with me for life now” and urged anyone who qualified for a jab to have it.

“I just feel selfish that I never had it done,” he said.

“Nothing’s more important.”