Isabelle (left) lost her father (right) in May of 2020 from COVID-19 (photo courtesy: Isabelle Adrien)
COVID-19 is surging in the United States again and parts of the country at capacity in hospitals. Let me introduce you to Isabelle (Izzy)Adrien, a rising sophomore at Dean College from Queens, New York. Izzy lost her father, Jean Adrien, early in the pandemic from COVID-19. He had a serious underlying condition, diabetes. Jean was a doctor who went into work in Brooklyn, New York to take care of all kinds of patients. During March and April of 2020 (despite being told not to go into work by his family due to their concern with COVID), he continued to go in to work because he wanted to take care of and help others. However, one day his family realized something was wrong when Jean came home with a bad cough. As time went on his symptoms got worse and his family sent him to a doctor since there was no testing available at the time. The doctor told him that he had COVID-19 symptoms and said that he looked better than other people with COVID. While he was home his family initially cared for him but then grew concerned as they too had underlying conditions. Izzy suffered from kidney failure and her mother from high blood pressure. Izzy’s sister became Jean’s primary caregiver and the family started to leave food for him outside his door. Jean’s condition was deteriorating, and he ultimately was admitted into a hospital in Queens. That was the last time they all saw Jean in person.
Jean’s only communication with his family from the hospital was through FaceTime. The family would FaceTime with him throughout every single day to check in on him to make sure that he was eating and talking. At first, he was excited because he thought he would be able to go home. Unfortunately, he was having a hard time breathing which led to him being put on a ventilator. The ventilator was not doing enough and eventually the family got a call from the doctor saying that he was not responsive and there was not much left they could do as the resources were very limited at the time. On top of all that, Izzy did not want to see her father suffer any more than he already was. On April 30th they got a call from the doctor saying that all options had been exhausted and there was nothing left they could do. The next day, on May 1st the family watched him pass away over FaceTime at the age of 82.
While the family knew it was the end, Izzy still thought that he would be able to fight through and survive. However, Jean was having panic attacks and kept saying he “could not breathe.” Izzy believes while the family was saying their goodbyes, her father was able to hear them but was unable to respond because of the amount of pain he was in. Due to the strict gathering restrictions, the family was only able to have a small funeral with 10 people and no wake.
Izzy’s father passing away changed her life greatly. “My dad’s death really changed my life because he told me he was going to be there when I graduated high school. He also wrote a card for me and said he was going to be there. I couldn’t imagine my dad not being there the day I graduated high school because it’s a big milestone.” Izzy goes on to explain how it has been hard being without him since he got her into basketball. “He was the one who got me into watching the New York Knicks and the fact that they went to the playoffs this year and I can’t tell him about it makes me sad. There is so much more I wish I could have done with him and the fact that I had to say goodbye to him through a screen hurt me because it made me feel like he was all by himself because I couldn’t hold his hand. I couldn’t hug him, and I couldn’t be there for him which made it difficult.” Izzy also finds it challenging considering that she will be on campus at Dean College for the first time by herself (Izzy opted to remain online for the spring semester) and her father will not be there to see her move in. “I am going on campus on September 5th, and he won’t even be there. I wanted him to be there especially after spending a year being online for college and doing so well, I wanted to share my accomplishments with him, and I couldn’t.” Izzy believes that when she does move in it will be bittersweet because while she will be excited to finally be on campus, she knows that her father looked forward to moving her in and he also thought Dean was a great fit for her. Looking ahead now, Izzy has good days and bad days. “I take it day by day but some days I have my moments when I get sad, but I am doing better than I was last summer. I’ve also spent a lot of time with family and friends.”
Having just gone through losing a family member from COVID-19, Izzy has a strong message to people that claim COVID is not real and is just a “hoax.” “I hate when people say that because obviously COVID is real, and it has been for quite some time. It’s stupid because I personally went through it, and I know how bad it is. The fact that someone says COVID is a hoax offends me because they don’t know how many people are affected by COVID every day.” Izzy also has a strong warning for people that are hesitant to get the vaccine. “I get that everyone has a personal choice but at the same time, there are long-term effects if you get COVID. It’s very important for people to get vaccinated because I don’t want what happened to my dad to happen to a lot of other people.” Izzy also feels that Dean College should certainty require masks come fall semester.