Posted on May 14, 2022
COVID took many in the prime of life, leaving families to pick up the pieces
1.16K
3
1
3
3
0
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2022/05/13/ [login to see] /covid-prime-of-life
Around 3 a.m. on a Sunday morning last October, Christina Summers got a phone call she'll never forget. It was a doctor at the Baltimore hospital where her husband, James, had been admitted a week earlier for COVID-19. He'd been struggling to breathe. Now, they were calling to tell her James was being put on a ventilator.
She picked up the phone and turned to the people who had been there for her most of her life: James's family. "I called his siblings immediately in the middle of the night and I said, 'You all got to come here immediately. I'm scared, I'm scared.'"
One of her sisters-in-law had just arrived when the doctor called back with the news: James had died, leaving Christina, who was 36 at the time, to raise their nine children on her own. "Me and my husband really worked like a team," she says. "My teammate's not here to help me, so I'm really feeling a single mom vibe, just trying to get accustomed to this."
Around 3 a.m. on a Sunday morning last October, Christina Summers got a phone call she'll never forget. It was a doctor at the Baltimore hospital where her husband, James, had been admitted a week earlier for COVID-19. He'd been struggling to breathe. Now, they were calling to tell her James was being put on a ventilator.
She picked up the phone and turned to the people who had been there for her most of her life: James's family. "I called his siblings immediately in the middle of the night and I said, 'You all got to come here immediately. I'm scared, I'm scared.'"
One of her sisters-in-law had just arrived when the doctor called back with the news: James had died, leaving Christina, who was 36 at the time, to raise their nine children on her own. "Me and my husband really worked like a team," she says. "My teammate's not here to help me, so I'm really feeling a single mom vibe, just trying to get accustomed to this."
COVID took many in the prime of life, leaving families to pick up the pieces
Posted from npr.org
Medical
Health
Death
Posted 2 y ago
Responses: 1
0
0
0
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."For Christina Summers, the battle is just to get herself and her nine kids through each day. "It's been very hard because we're still all grieving," Summers says.
She's been trying to find grief counseling for the kids, but so far, no luck. With demand so high since the pandemic, the wait for therapy can be months long. She's also been busy navigating the bureaucracy – trying to secure Social Security survivor benefits and other resources for her children, all while still coming to terms with the reality that her life partner and best friend is never coming home.
"Every day I just look for him to come through the door, you know? 'Cause sometimes I feel like he's going to come through the door still. It's surreal how COVID just takes them out."
..."For Christina Summers, the battle is just to get herself and her nine kids through each day. "It's been very hard because we're still all grieving," Summers says.
She's been trying to find grief counseling for the kids, but so far, no luck. With demand so high since the pandemic, the wait for therapy can be months long. She's also been busy navigating the bureaucracy – trying to secure Social Security survivor benefits and other resources for her children, all while still coming to terms with the reality that her life partner and best friend is never coming home.
"Every day I just look for him to come through the door, you know? 'Cause sometimes I feel like he's going to come through the door still. It's surreal how COVID just takes them out."
(0)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google