Owen Rodbard lost his much-loved father to Covid last year.

Owen shares his moving story as he pays tribute to the late Gary Rodbard, and relates how the incredible support of friends, family and even the boss of Stevenage FC have helped him through tough times.

Read courageous Owen's powerful article at Nub News as he honours his dad's memory.

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At the age of 19 I could never have predicted I would lose my dad. But when he passed away from coronavirus back in April I didn't know what to do or where to turn.

Still to this day I'm not really comfortable speaking about it to anyone, but I thought with the rise in cases and the vaccine rollout in full force, it would now would be a good time to share my experience.

My dad passed away at Glenfield Hospital, Leicester on April 12, 2020.

He spent 18 days on a ventilator before the doctors decided it would be best if they turned his life support off.

My dad was my inspiration and my biggest supporter.

He filled the room with laughter, he lived his life in good humour and was so kind-hearted.

When he died, I received so many messages from people from all parts of his life. They all said the same thing, that he was a great friend and a good laugh.

They also told me how much he used to speak about me and how proud he was of my achievements.

You're always told that you don't realise how much someone means to you until they're gone.

From experience I can now say that's true. I cherish those memories with my dad and I'm never going to forgot them.

Death is not something I've experienced in my adult life. A mixture of shock and disbelief surrounded me when the doctor phoned me to tell me the news.

It was made worse by the fact that the day before they'd told me that he had improved dramatically and he might be taken out of the coma.

The grief was horrible, not helped by the lockdown which was relatively new at that point.

We could only have ten people at his funeral and I couldn't even hug his brother.

Despite the last ten months of this shocking virus the support I've received has been nothing short of incredible.

Friends, family and even the Stevenage manager Alex Revell have really helped me through this.

It's not really something that I've publicly spoken about but for the manager of my football team to be regularly checking up on me, offering his support and even coming to the scattering of the ashes, has meant the world.

He's a true gentlemen and a class act on and off the pitch.

It's the little things I miss about my dad.

Talking about football (usually about Stevenage), our chats every Sunday and our trips away.

I couldn't have asked for a better dad and for the childhood he gave me, I'll forever be thankful.