My Crazy Parkinson’s Life
More Than Just a Number
It seemed almost surreal, it was like an out of body experience, I was shocked and heart broken. That was how I felt after my wife Rosalie informed me that my cousin was on life support, due to covid. What was so heart breaking was how he became infected. He and his wife became infected visiting my dad, whose complex was in the beginning stages of a covid outbreak unknown to all. My cousin’s timing could not have been worse. It is said” no good deed goes unpunished”, and we were about to see that first hand. My family has had a pretty tough time during this pandemic, but up that point no one had died. Also of note, Rosalie was calling me from the isolation ward in a local hospital battling covid herself, she spent 11 days in the hospital before being released, thank God she came through it.
My thoughts go back to the morning when we met my cousin and his wife for breakfast. My cousin traveled all across America every two years and always found the time to stop and see my father. He was not here to gamble or party, his mission was to see my dad. I told him in a text, between the Alzheimer’s and being legally deaf, it can be quite challenging communicating with him. His response was simple “challenge accepted”. They spent a good part of three days with my dad, but planned to leave bright and early Wednesday morning. So, we made plans to meet for breakfast Tuesday morning. We talked and laughed and had a wonderful time, making a promise to come visits them in North Carolina, it was great to see them, after tying up the table for two hours it was time to leave the restaurant. We hugged and said our goodbyes, till next time I said, but little did I know what was to come.
The next day my cousin left for North Carolina as planned, and everything returned to normal or so it seemed. That is until my phone rang and I was informed that Dad had tested positive for covid, I was shocked. I went and got tested immediately and informed Rosalie and my cousin that my dad had tested positive for covid. Rosalie went and got tested, it came back negative, so far, so good I thought. But I was just praying mine would come back negative, I would feel a whole lot better knowing I had not passed it on to others. My cousin on the other hand was not concerned at all and said they felt fine, and they were headed to Colorado to see some friends. My first test was at a different location from where Rosalie tested. I did not know that the test I took would require a forty-eight hour wait for the results. So, I went to a rapid testing lab because I got tired of waiting for my results.
I had not been gone 15 minutes from the testing place when my phone rang with a number I had never seen, but I had a feeling I knew who it was. I answered the phone knowing that this was not going to be good. After introducing herself, she informed me that I tested positive and was to quarantine for ten days. After a few minutes I called Rosalie and broke the news to her, it broke my heart. We had experience with covid, my son was one night from being placed on a ventilator and spent 14 days in the hospital. And then my granddaughter spent a week in the hospital last July, and in her words,” thought I was going to die”, I knew what could lay ahead. I texted my cousin and informed him I was positive also. His response was “we are doing great, no symptoms, we will pray for you, hope you are asymptomatic”, that was the last text message I received from him.
Everything from that point on is a blur, Rosalie re-tested negative again on Saturday, and I thought we might be home free. Sunday rolls around and Rosalie all of the sudden is congested and running a fever, my biggest fear was realized. I never thought about calling my cousin, I was too busy trying everything possible to help Rosalie get better, and it wasn’t working. By that time, Rosalie had passed-out in my arms and was moaning “oh my God” for hours on end, I was helpless.
I just assumed my cousin and his wife made it back to North Carolina safe and sound, no news is good news, I never gave it a second thought. As I was to later find out, his wife had become very sick and he was trying to get her to the hospital, but before he could, he became ill. He entered the hospital on Wednesday and by Sunday he was gone. At the time of the call, his wife was in the same hospital fighting for her life, not knowing her husband had died, the whole thing is a tragic mess.
My cousin is one of over 777,000 Americans who have lost their lives to this unseen monster. Behind every one of those 777,000 deaths is a story that ends in tragedy, and loved ones left behind grieving for their loss. I wrote this because politics has de-humanized the tragic loss of human lives and we sometimes forget that. My cousin was not #777,001, he was Kevin Finney and he was loved by all who were lucky enough to know him, and that loss will never be forgotten, Godspeed, Kevin.