by Local Democracy Reporting Service

A martial arts instructor who had a life-saving liver transplant 10 years ago has died after testing positive for Covid-19.

Rommel Bernarte, 49, from Dartford, was a black belt and master in Tang Soo Do.

The father-of-two had set up training centres across London and Kent specialising in the Korean martial art.

He died on April 11 after falling ill at the end of March.

His son Ryan said: "Dad was so full of life. There was this aura about him that people just gravitated to."

He said when his father, he had been "very physically fit" and would have been "really disappointed" that his organs could not be donated due to coronavirus, his son told the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

His father had became an advocate for organ donation after receiving successful treatment for a congenital liver condition at the Royal Free Hospital in London in 2009.

The family are now raising money in his name, with more than £10,000 donated so far, to be split between the Royal Free Hospital and Darent Valley Hospital, where he was treated last month.

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