A chef whose mum, dad and brother all died with Covid has been forced to endure vile abuse from anti-vaxxers who questioned whether his family were even real.
Francis Goncalves, 43, was targeted after revealing how his relatives had been scared to get vaccinated, having read misinformation online.
Brother Shaul, 40, mother Charmagne, 65, and dad Basil, 73, all caught Covid last year after attending a family meal.
Unbeknown to him, Basil had contracted the virus during a hospital stay a few days earlier and tragically infected the rest of the family.
Francis’ relatives – who all lived in Portugal – became seriously ill two weeks later and died as he rushed to their bedside from Cardiff, where he works at a restaurant.
While sharing his story to raise awareness about getting vaccinated, Francis said he was soon targeted by trolls who accused him of telling lies over his relatives’ deaths.
He said: ‘There were threats from as far away as Italy, then I had private messages with all sorts of insults from people as far as Australia, literally people from all over the world.
‘There was a lot of negativity and in the initial phases it was overwhelming. You get accused of being fake. People were looking for evidence that my family didn’t exist.
‘Some people would send me one message and nothing else, others would send me an array of messages or attack my social media feeds. Some of them got so bad I had to get the police involved.
‘It wasn’t people who say they don’t want the vaccine because it’s their choice, it was people who are hardcore against the vaccine and set on spreading misinformation.’
Francis believes the vaccines would have his brother’s life as he was the ‘healthiest person’ he had known.
He said: ‘If he wasn’t working out in the gym or running, he was going on walks. He hadn’t drunk in 15 years and had a plant-based diet.’
But Shaul soon began ‘feeling like he was filled with weight and that he was tired’.
Francis managed to get tests to fly to Portugal – but his father and brother died in July 2021 before he arrived.
When he got there, he discovered his mother – who had a number of underlying health issues, including an autoimmune disease – was struggling to cope with the virus.
Francis said: ‘She was also in an induced coma. They allowed me to go and see her which was already a sign that things weren’t going well and I had to dress up in full PPE.’
Days later he got a call to say Charmagne had also died.
On Sunday August 1, 2021, all three were buried next to each other in the Covid section of a cemetery in Lisbon.
Francis was told due to the circumstances moving their bodies elsewhere would never be possible.
The family had lived in South Africa – where Francis grew up – but moved to Cardiff in 2015 to escape violence.
A year later, his parents and brother moved to Portugal, where his father was originally from.
Francis said he misses his family every day, adding: ‘It’s not just one birthday you miss, it’s all the birthdays, the Father’s Days, the Mother’s Days, all those celebrations and the phone calls. Now that’s all gone and there’s no way you can substitute it.
‘I do have my wife who has been really supportive and close friends who have been amazing as well, but it hasn’t been easy.
‘You don’t always feel the shock, part of you feels like you’re just numb and you don’t feel anything and then you get overwhelmed with emotions. Everything from anger to hopelessness.
‘You grow further away from that and you learn that you are the one who is still alive and you need to move on. You try to do your best to honour their memory, but it definitely has not been easy.’
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