Inquest underway in Cork into death of 'very healthy 23-year-old' days after he got covid vaccine

The family of a talented footballer who died five days after he received a covid vaccine has told an inquest that they just want to establish the truth about what happened to him.

Roy Butler, of O’Reilly Rd in Waterford, died on August 17, 2021, at Cork University Hospital (CUH) having been hospitalised the previous day. He was shifted by ambulance suffering from convulsions, jerking, and stroke-like symptoms.

Cork Coroner’s Court was told that the sports-loving Villa Football Club player loved life and was respectful, kind, and fun-loving.

His father Martin said that Roy was apprehensive about getting the covid jab. 

The young man received the Janssen (Johnson & Johnson) one-jab vaccine on August 12, 2021.

Mr Butler said his son, who was a “very healthy 23-year-old” only got the vaccine because he wanted to go to Dubai with his friends.

He went to a pharmacy for the vaccine and when he returned, Mr Butler said that Roy “looked shook”. He recalled that Roy went to work at Bausch + Lomb as usual in the following days.

Roy told his father that he had had a “bad night” on the Saturday night. However, diligent as ever, the conscientious man opted to go to work on Sunday, the court heard.

On August 16, Roy had a few days off having completed his run of shift work. Roy decided to go to a gym at about 2.30pm but was home within a very short period of time. Mr Butler said that Roy complained of feeling unwell.

Shocking scenes 

Mr Butler indicated that it was very unusual for Roy to be sick, and the upbeat young man wasn’t a person for “complaining about a headache”. He said his wife Angela helped Roy to bed. Within 10 minutes Roy was texting her to come up the stairs. The concerned father then detailed the shocking scenes he encountered in his son’s room.

“Roy’s eyes were closed even though he was getting sick and I kept talking to him to get him to respond,” he said.

“Roy was getting sick as he lay on the bed and in convulsions. Angela rang 999 and got through to the ambulance. It was maybe a half an hour before they arrived.

“Roy did not improve in this time. He was just jerking/convulsions from side to side.”

The paramedics called a second ambulance as they needed sufficient manpower to lift the very ill young man out of the house.

Mr Butler said his son’s condition continued to go downhill. “They [the paramedic] told me to keep talking to him and I held his hand. Roy was unresponsive. The second ambulance arrived. We were not allowed in the ambulance. So we followed on.”

Mr Butler said that Roy was taken to University Hospital Waterford for treatment. A family liaison person gave them regular updates. He said the family were informed that “they had never seen anything like this before”. A decision was made to transfer Roy to CUH at 8pm on August 16, 2021.

Mr Butler said while they were on the way to Cork they got a call from a neurosurgeon who informed them that their youngest son only had a 2% chance of survival.

“I asked him to do his best,” said Mr Butler. “Twenty minutes later we got a call from the surgeon again. He said things had gotten worse and he said there was only a 1% chance now.”

The following day the Butler family were informed that despite the best efforts of medics, nothing could be done for Roy.

Mr Butler said that it was important to him that the “truth be told” as to what occurred to his son. A decision was made to take Roy off life support, and he passed away within a matter of minutes.

Mr Butler said that his son “didn’t look himself” when he came home from having the vaccine.

He indicated that Roy was passionate about sport, adding: “He never missed a training session. He would do anything to go. He was captain of every team he played for. He was always fit and healthy. He was strong and tall. He was always training. We got on absolutely fantastically.”

Mr Butler said that “walking out as a captain under the tunnel” was always something Roy wanted to do, and he achieved that. 

'Perfectly healthy young man'

The family live across from Waterford United and Roy always wanted to play with the team. Luckily, he realised his dream.

Angela Butler stated that Roy was a “perfectly healthy young man” prior to taking the vaccine. She said she just “wanted the truth” about what happened to her younger son.

He had asthma as a youngster, but his mother said it had no bearing on his health and that he had “used an inhaler twice in his life”.

She said that when Roy went to the gym on August 16, he returned in a very short period of time.

“He came back after 30 minutes. I knew something was wrong. He was very pale. He said his heart was banging [out of his chest].”

Mrs Butler said that “Roy was perfectly healthy and happy”.

“He was perfect, and then he got the injection, and he wasn’t perfect.”

She said Roy “loved living and did a lot in his short life”. “We miss him every second of every day.”

Mrs Butler said “her baby boy” was “always happy and positive”.

Aaron Butler, the older brother of the deceased, said although there was a seven-year age gap, he always enjoyed a fantastic relationship with his brother. He described Roy as “the complete package”. He said that two days after Roy got the vaccine, he texted him and said he had headaches, and was sweaty, groggy, and had a sore jaw and neck. Roy told Aaron via text “I’m not dying but I’m not well”. Roy also texted six of his friends in the days after he got the vaccine, saying that he felt unwell.

Paramedic Brian Jackman said that Roy was “unresponsive” when the ambulance crew arrived onsite at around 5pm on August 16, 2021. He stated that Roy was “showing signs of having a stroke”. 

He stated that it was an “emergency situation” and that Roy was “seizing” when they arrived at the hospital in Waterford.

Catastrophic intercranial bleed

Consultant neuroradiologist at CUH Dr Gerald Wyse told the inquest that Roy suffered a “catastrophic inter cranial bleed” in what was an “instantaneous event.”

A CT scan carried out at the hospital indicated that the 23-year-old had a large haematoma in his brain. It had a measurement of 8.1cm.

Dr Wyse indicated the impact of the inter-cranial bleed was devastating and malignant and caused the intercranial pressure to increase, which led to severe damage of the brain.

He described what had occurred to Mr Butler as a “very unusual presentation” and stated that he wasn’t from his “normal cohort” of patients.

“This is a very unusual. The patient is much, much younger [than the norm] but it is something that does happen.”

Neurosurgeon Wail Mohammed said Roy arrived at CUH at 11.15pm on August 16, 2021. He was informed that Roy had a Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) of five to six on his presentation to hospital in Waterford. A score of 15 is given when a person is responsive. Lower GCS scores are correlated with higher risks of death.

Dr Mohammed said that the prognosis was grim. “He had a catastrophic brain haemorrhage. Unfortunately, the clinical tests showed the equivalent of brain stem death. This was a massive bleed.”

He agreed with Ciara Davin, for the family, that symptoms of an intercranial bleed included headaches, a sore neck and jaw, and being groggy.

Dr Mohammed said the symptoms as described by Roy in texts tied in with the increasing in intensity of an intercranial bleed. He added that surgery wasn’t carried out on the patient because he had suffered a “catastrophic and irreversible brain injury”.

John Lucey, for Johnson & Johnson said there have been 59 cases of “adverse event reports” worldwide from the vaccine out of 616m doses distributed.

The case continues today.