Andy Leaman's story shows each death is someone precious

This happy photograph shows a family at Disneyland, making memories and having a wonderful, normal time.

Look at the right of the photograph.

The three people there are no longer with their families. All have succumbed to coronavirus, leaving an irreparable whole in the lives of their loved ones.

It's almost too much to contemplate yet that is reality for Andy Leaman and his family.

One of the real privileges of my job is speaking to rare people like Andy.

In the course of four harrowing weeks, as we told in the Glasgow Times yesterday, Andy lost first his father-in-law, then his mum and finally his dad to coronavirus.

Over the course of our conversation he spoke calmly and eloquently about how the pandemic has changed his life and his family's life irreparably.

If it was me, I wouldn't have been able to do it.

I can't imagine being able to hold myself together long enough to speak of such a completely distressing chain of events.

READ MORE: Coronavirus devastates Castlemilk family as three grandparents die in four weeks

But Andy wanted people to know what happened to his family so that people make change their behaviour to help keep themselves and others safe.

That's a true act of humanity, in the midst of crisis, to think of others.

And he's right, of course, that his individual story will make a difference. It has to.

Every day we hear the announcement of the new death toll.

As of the Glasgow Times going to press tonight the toll was 32,065 people having died testing positive for Covid-19.

That's a huge number. It's almost incomprehensible.

Large numbers can shock us but they can also leave us desensitised to the real, human tragedy behind each and every one.

We hear about, say, 10 deaths in a care home and are horrified.

Do we think about each individual person? How they were young once and went to parties and worried about what to do with their lives? How they had families and fall outs and feelings?

It's easy to think how horrifying 32,065 deaths are but so hard to comprehend that each number is a person, leaving behind devastated friends and family.

That's why Andy's story, for many people, was so important. He described his dad, Andy Snr, finding his mum, Mary, had died at home. Other people will have also experienced that trauma.

He described his family not being able to have contact with his father-in-law, Dougie, when he was in the intensive care unit.

Other families will have experienced that isolation from loved ones as they reached the end of their life.

At the end of February my uncle Andrew died after nearly two weeks in Monklands University Hospital. It was a very difficult time for our family but we were able to sit with him every day and talk to him and hold his hand.

That gave huge comfort to my mum, in particular, and the ward staff were wonderful with us.

We were lucky, in some way, in that we were able to sit with him in hospital at the end and then hold a funeral for him, without any restrictions.

The thought of families being denied that is heartbreaking, but that's what happened to Andy's family with Dougie.

Then, Andy spoke of the joy of having his dad home after a stay in the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital following a battle with the coronavirus.

But Andy Snr became ill a second time and, with his son by his side saying 'You've done your best. Just be with my mum now,' he passed away.

The First Minister, at her lunchtime briefing in Edinburgh, commented on Andy's story.

She said we should listen to his words.

"People need to realise it is real," she read out. "These guidelines that are set out need to be followed.

"Stay in the house, social distance. That is the only way of keeping the people you love safe."

READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon says people should listen to 'heartbreaking' words of Andy Leaman who lost three family members to Covid-19

At the weekend Boris Johnson gave a garbled and confusing message that partially lifted lockdown in England.

The governments of Wales and Scotland have been clear that they'll do things their way for the sake of their people.

This isn't the time for mixed messages because people are becoming frustrated and they are easing off on following guidance. We've seen an increase in traffic on the roads and pictures of packed parks and beaches.

Andy told me he had been in a shop recently and a man was not following social distancing rules. Andy told the man that he had recently lost three people to coronavirus and the man said he didn't care, he'd do what he wanted.

We might get frustrated. It might be galling to be told what to do. But it's time for unity and for caring for one another and showing empathy.

Each death is someone precious and the next death might be someone precious to you.