Transplant recipient reflects on COVID
Protect one other, urges man after stem-cell treatment
Rod Fink has good sense to dispense regarding what the general public can do to help alleviate the COVID-19 public-health crisis.
“The first thing is to recognize it on that basis,” the 60-year-old Fink, who resided in Vibank until moving to Edmonton in 1995, says via email.
“Don't politicize it. Don't exploit it to push other points of view. Just keep it simple. There is a new deadly disease out there and it is spreading out of control.”
Fink embraced that mindset when the global pandemic was declared in March. His sentiments were reinforced, many times over, in mid-april when he was diagnosed with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia.
That condition has left him particularly vulnerable to COVID, especially since he underwent a stem-cell transplant in late August.
The day before checking into the Tom Baker Cancer Clinic in Calgary, Fink and his wife Marianne moved into an adjacent apartment.
“Thankfully, COVID had subsided enough for Marianne to be able to see me while in hospital,” Fink recalls. “Marianne, who can be a bit fussy with cleaning standards, went into hyperdrive at the apartment. When I returned to it following my treatment in hospital, the apartment was likely in its most pristine state since it was opened.”
The Finks remained in the apartment until Thursday, when they headed back home to Edmonton — one day after Rod's biopsy results produced “good news.”
“We remained isolated and had not allowed anyone into the apartment for a visit,” he notes. “We donned masks when we left and left them on unless no one was in sight and were outside. As had been the case since the start of the pandemic, anything entering the apartment was wiped down with a Clorox wipe.
“Returning home, it will simply be more of the same. My immune system is barely functioning at this stage. Any infection, let alone COVID, can be life-threatening. It takes about two years to reach what my peak recovery will be.”
And, Fink is quick to note, this can happen to anyone, at any time.
“Here's another question: Who is vulnerable?” he says.
“My disease had no physical symptoms.
“I felt great and still did going into the hospital. You may think that you are healthy and that your friends and family are healthy, but you never know. A co-morbidity may exist. Getting COVID wouldn't be the best way to discover such a condition.
“The public-health advice is to assume everyone is vulnerable and do your best to protect them. And I agree.
“I'm part of a small set of people recovering from leukemia and a stem-cell transplant. People with diabetes, heart conditions, lung conditions, inflammatory conditions and I don't know what else are all vulnerable.
“These people are in our community. Let's get more of a sense of community back into our lives and do what we can to protect them.
“I think that's the big thing missing today — the sense of community and the responsibility that is part of that.”
Those values were instilled when Fink was growing up in Vibank.
“I was fortunate to grow up in a strong community,” he continues. “Volunteering wasn't solicited. It was just the way you got stuff done.
“You not only shovelled your grandma's sidewalk, you did Mrs. Thuringer's next door, too. It didn't hurt that Mrs. Thuringer would sometimes open the door to offer you fresh baked buns.
“The bottom line is you looked out for each other. I'm not sure why so much of that seems to be missing now.
“I know businesses are part of our community as well. They also need to be supported and protected. I saw a great comment on Twitter from a restaurant owner, who said: `Don't forget COVID is the real problem — not the regulations that are in place trying to control it.'
“So all I ask is we do what we can do. Do we have to be regulated and fined or arrested to get there? I hope not. Let's pull together.”