A Covid-19 Saturday: Getting Personal

~ beetleypete

Typing with a heavy heart today, after receiving some bad news yesterday.

I have often written on here that I have so far been unaware of any personal connection to the pandemic, and didn’t know of anyone who had contracted the virus.

Now that has changed.

One of my dearest and oldest friends is dying from complications of Covid-19. A man I have known and loved for 51 years, through the thick and thin of our lives. He was the best man at my first wedding, and I did the same at his. He had underlying health conditions, having endured Osteomyelitis in his youth, then going through dialysis and kidney transplant in middle age. I had got used to him being ill, and often marvelled at how he managed to pull through at times of medical crisis.

Then along came the Coronavirus.

He has declined to be sedated and connected to a ventilator, choosing pain-killing drugs and being conscious to the end. He is not going to see his yet-unborn grandchild, and is likely to be denied the chance of a last visit from anyone dear to him too. To keep them safe.

No doubt he will be added to the tragic numbers of people in this country officially lost to the virus. But this is the real impact of knowing someone who is on that list. The heartbreak, the flooding back of memories, concern for his pregnant daughter, and knowing how his loss will affect not only his immediate family, but our wider circle of friends too.

I will walk Ollie today, thinking about my friend. Then I will sit in a chair in the garden this evening, still thinking about him.

And he knows he will never be forgotten, and will always be loved.

154 thoughts on “A Covid-19 Saturday: Getting Personal”

  1. Pingback: A Covid-19 Saturday: Getting Personal – global news7
  5. Pingback: A Covid-19 Saturday: Getting Personal – Site Title

  8. Guys it appears to me that second and more powerful wave of covid pandemic is going to hit all of us in June or July, let’s take care of all our near and dear. Take maximum precautions and try to do something good for society, poor people, needy , helpless etc. god has given us life to do something good and it’s a chance to show it now. Take care

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  10. I am so sorry to read this, Pete. I study the daily stats across the world and it is easy to forget sometimes that behind every tragedy someone passed to the next world without their family by their bedside. COVID has brought many horrors to our lives …

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      2. I am so sorry for your loss, Pete! It really sounds horrible not to be taking part on the funeral ceremony. Sometimes i really cant understand this “virus thing”. One time the are reopen all, the other time the virus is so harmful killing people in different situations.Here in Germany they are preparing for vacancy outside the country, wearing only these tissue masks. I can not understand what sense does it make wearing only a mask saving others, but getting no FPII masks. Michael

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  11. I’m so sorry, Pete. Every life lost during this pandemic is a tragedy. Our tiny state of Massachusetts has had over 7,000 deaths. Best to you, and my deepest sympathy.

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  12. I am really sorry about this. I hope he rests in peace. I know how you feel, I have been through that and I still feel the pain but he is with you in your heart. Take care pete. I hope you feel better. 😞💔

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  17. I think it was very brave of him to not use the ventilator. He must have suffered but he also endured. As he passes his legacy will endure even more with memories of him and his family. I pray for his daughter in this difficult time.

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    1. Thanks, Lloyd. The doctors were honest, and he would have died on the ventilator anyway. He chose to be conscious for his last hours. I hope I could be that brave.
      Best wishees, Pete.

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  18. Pingback: Brian Cushion: RIP | beetleypete

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