It is NOT “JUST" A VIRUS

It is not “JUST” a virus…..

 

Jack was healthy one night, fighting for his life the next night after the Adenovirus attacked his heart and made it stop and the following night, he died in my arms, six days before his 6th Birthday on Xmas day.

 

It is not “JUST” a virus….. What do people not understand about this?

 

Like Coronavirus, “Adenovirus symptoms can include fever, sore throat, cough and runny nose. It can cause mild to severe illness, though serious illness is less common. People with weakened immune systems, or existing respiratory or cardiac disease, are at higher risk of developing severe illness from an adenovirus infection”.

 

On paper this virus should NEVER have killed Jack, he was young, he was fit, he was healthy and he didn’t have underlying health conditions. No doctor will ever be able to give me the answers as to why the Adenovirus killed Jack. He was just one of the “unlucky ones” who’s body didn’t fight the virus the way it should have or the way they would have expected it to.

 

So, excuse me for not being reassured when I hear doctors say that the Coronavirus isn’t serious for children. I am not saying that or posting this to scare people, I am telling Jacks story so that people think about their actions in the midst of this worldwide crisis.

 

Before I lost Jack to a VIRUS, I also didn’t know how serious viruses could be, I was one of those people who thought it was “JUST a virus” . I witnessed, first hand, what “just” virus can do to a healthy young person within 24 hours. Every time I hear the words “just a virus” or “it doesn’t affect young people”, its like a stab in the heart.

 

The anxiety and fear that you are all living with just now because of the Coronavirus, is the fear and anxiety that I have lived with on a daily basis since losing Jack. Since having Jacks little sister Summer J, my anxiety has escalated because I know what a virus can do to a healthy child and I just wont risk losing another child.

 

Washing hands, using anti bacterial gel and staying away from sick people has always been normal to me so I really can’t understand why that is not normal to everyone, ESPECIALLY JUST NOW. We have been told and seen across the world that Coronavirus will kill millions of people so…

 

Why are people still going out when they don’t need to?

Why are people not social distancing?

Why are people not following the guidelines?

 

What is it going to take? For your child or family member to die before you take Coronavirus serious? I can assure you that holding your child in your arms as they die, telling them that its ok to let go now, is the most traumatic experience that a person can ever endure. The reality is, if we don’t take responsibility for our own part in this, then it will happen more and more.

 

If you think it won’t happen to you, it only happens to other people, then take it from someone who knows….it CAN happen to you.

 

Like Coronavirus, someone passed the Adenovirus to Jack so when this storm is all over, I can only hope that people will CONTINUE to take safe measures such as hygiene, frequent hand washing, staying off work when ill and not sending sick children to nursery and school to infect others.

 

It is NOT “JUST" A VIRUS,

 

A virus can be DEADLY and if we can’t see that just now, then there is something seriously wrong.

PLEASE for everyone’s sake, do what we are being asked to do.

 

Life’s are at risk…. It is NOT “JUST" A VIRUS.

 

To those who put their own life at risk every day to protect, feed and save each one of us in whatever way....

 

Thank you xxx