EIGHT weeks after the White Island volcano disaster, a Hunter man remains in Concord Hospital fighting to overcome life-threatening injuries and the harrowing tragedy that claimed the life of his son and 20 others.
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John Cozad, a 72-year-old from Swansea, suffered burns to about 40 per cent of his body when the island's volcano erupted on Monday, December 9.
He has spent every day since, many in an induced coma, in a hospital bed either in New Zealand or Sydney.
By his side during that time has been his wife of 47 years, Beverley, who has spoken publicly for the first time to the Newcastle Herald about her family's ill-fated holiday on the Ovation of the Seas cruise ship.
Some days are better than others. I actually think he is going to live, I didn't think he would there for a long time.
- Beverley Cozad on her husband John, who survived the White Island volcano eruption
The holiday was cut short when John and the couple's son, Chris, who did not survive, were caught on the island at the time of the eruption.
"The wrong place at the wrong time," Mrs Cozad said, summarising the tragic end to the tour her husband and son booked as an optional activity six months earlier when planning the trip.
Mrs Cozad, who did not go on the tour, was shopping on the mainland not far from where the cruise ship had docked when the island erupted.
Despite returning to the ship afterwards, she had no idea what had happened until she received a phone call from her daughter back in Australia.
"Where's dad?" her daughter Heather asked.
"He's not back yet," an unsuspecting Mrs Cozad replied.
"Well, the volcano has erupted," Heather said.
Mrs Cozad, 71, said: "It all went downhill from there.
"We didn't know who'd been involved. We just didn't know. We didn't know anything. Just that they hadn't come back."
The cruise ship staff eventually read out a list of names and asked all those called to make their way to a conference room.
"We kind of knew then that something had happened," Mrs Cozad said.
Family members of those involved were then taken by bus to a hospital where the survivors were being treated.
"They had beds all over the place," Mrs Cozad said. "Burnt people everywhere.
"[John] was awake lying on a bed. He was filthy dirty. They hadn't had time to clean them all up.
"He seemed to want to keep his eyes shut, but he was telling us what happened.
"I didn't think too much about it. I mean, he was talking. I was disturbed, but he was talking."
As the situation unfolded over the next 24 hours, Mrs Cozad said there was a "bit of a panic" about getting Australian patients back to Sydney as the "little hospital" in New Zealand simply "couldn't handle it".
The seriousness of the situation involving her husband's health hit home a few days later when doctors in Sydney "laid it on the line" that they did not have experience with the burns as "we don't have volcanoes here", she said.
Mr Cozad remained in a coma for a number of weeks.
His family had the difficult task of farewelling his son while also holding out hope the 72-year-old would survive.
He eventually "fluttered his eyelids" on Christmas Day, which was a fleeting moment of optimism for the family after a torrid fortnight.
"It was like a fog," Mrs Cozad said.
"We were just going through the motions of, you know, getting up and didn't get a phone call in the middle of the night to say come and see him.
"We were grateful for little things like that.
"Christmas we had in my little apartment, which was awful.
"We've got some grandchildren, so we had to go ahead with that and have some sort of Christmas.
"Then we had Australia Day and I thought, 'God, are we going to be here for Easter?' And apparently we are."
Mr Cozad has undergone a number of skin grafts for burns to his legs, arms and hands. He has also battled with pneumonia and infections.
He has made significant improvement and in recent weeks was transferred from intensive care to the burns unit.
He is not quite out of the woods, but Mrs Cozad is becoming more confident her husband will make a full recovery and return home.
"He is progressing slowly," she said.
"Some days are better than others. I actually think he is going to live, I didn't think he would there for a long time.
"He is still bandaged, but they say the grafts are looking good. They're healing well.
"He was a very fit and healthy man, and I think that's been one of the reasons why he's doing so well. I think that's stood him in good stead."
Mrs Cozad has been living in a serviced apartment paid for by Royal Caribbean.
The cruise company has also been paying for her taxi rides to and from the hospital, but other costs are beginning to stack up.
The future financial burden for the couple, depending on Mr Cozad's recovery, is also a concern.
The couple's daughters, Jenny and Heather, launched a GoFundMe page as a fundraiser, which Mrs Cozad is a little embarrassed by.
She is just grateful one of the residents at the couple's retirement village in Swansea has been able to look after their pet cat.
The couple only moved into The Village last year after living for the past 11 years at Stockton, where Mrs Cozad was a volunteer at the Wescott Nursing Home for about nine years.
"Dad was Mum's carer. They moved into their retirement home in the Newcastle area in June last year and she doesn't want to leave his side," the sisters wrote on the GoFundMe page.
"Keeping Mum supported in Sydney and adjusting our own lives to support them both is key in Dad's recovery.
"We appreciate any support received."
Mr Cozad faces another three to four months in hospital undergoing physiotherapy and rehabilitation work as part the road to recovery.
"How much movement he'll have, he will have to work very hard on his hands," Mrs Cozad said of her husband's condition.
"He can walk, a physio walks him up and down the hall. But he's very supported and comes back to bed exhausted.