A narrative written in the first person about losing a father-in-law who passed away after exhibiting symptoms of the coronavirus disease 2019 or the COVID-19, has touched netizens that it has gone viral on social media.
The narrative, published by Esquire magazine, goes beyond the description of the disease, the agony of waiting for that dreaded COVID-19 diagnosis, and the realization that a press release provided them with more details about the patient than the people in the medical facility.
The piece does bear the title, “Dad Was PH129. And We Found Out on the Internet.”
The story started with a description of the deep bond and affection between the author’s toddler son and her father-in-law.
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They also had similar physical traits, “the same eyes that turned downward, the same high forehead, and the same wispy hairline with hair that gave up at the slightest breeze.”
Her description of the man was both inspiring and heartbreaking: “Yeye was a fighter. He was, according to my husband’s stories, a firm overprotector who, through the years, had mellowed and contented himself as a kindly supportive player in the background. He was always reliable and dependable.”
Then she provided details of the trips to hospitals, the anxiety and uncertainty of the family on the status of her father-in-law until the dreaded news was sent through a text message.
Then the family had to deal with the loss and then there were the rumors.
“People, after all, would remember COVID-19 for decades to come. But to most of them, Yeye would just be the nth victim, the nth death, a sad casualty of age, pandemic, and a warning to many against the consequences of the virus, but he was so much more than that.”
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The experience is not easy but understanding also comes.
“It’s easy to see it as a virus with a mere 3.4-percent mortality rate (or whatever it is now) when your personal understanding of COVID-19 only goes as far as sitting at home and eating canned corned beef.”
“And I pray that’s how far it’ll will ever get for you. Even so, try to remember that COVID-19 is about people as it is the numbers.”
