Power of prayer sustains family
When New Zealand’s last hospitalised Covid-19 patient was sedated in an intensive care unit for more than a month, doctors feared she would not survive and told her family to prepare to say their goodbyes.
But instead, they prayed. Now, 55-year-old Samoan woman Lilian Su’a is recovering at home and said she’s lucky to be alive after battling Covid-19 in Auckland’s Middlemore Hospital for more than two months.
Both Lilian and her husband, Tofiga, 62, contracted the disease just as the country went into alert level 4 lockdown.
With New Zealand now reaching alert level 1 and with no more active cases of Covid-19, Lilian and Tofiga are celebrating both their recovery and their 35th wedding anniversary this week and they say their battle with Covid-19 has made their marriage stronger than ever.
‘‘I loved her when I first saw her. My wife is a lovely lady. She loves me so much. Her cooking is really delicious and she is very humble,’’ Tofiga said.
‘‘Definitely he is the one for me, my lovely husband,’’ Lilian said. ‘‘June 15 this month, 35 years our anniversary so praise the Lord!’’
The first signs of the disease began when Tofiga first felt unwell two days before the alert level 4 lockdown began.
‘‘I got sick on March 23 and it was just like a normal flu and I thought it wasn’t that serious,’’ explained Tofiga.
He said he attempted to get tested at the Mangere clinic in South Auckland, but was rejected because he didn’t have a sore throat and wasn’t coughing.
It took a further two attempts to get tested.
‘‘By that time my wife was also affected with the coronavirus and I told the doctor there after taking my test – whether she can test as well and he said no. He said just wait to get my results. So we [were] both sick, only two of us here in the house,’’ he said.
By the time Tofiga’s test results came back confirming he had coronavirus, his wife Lilian’s condition was serious.
‘‘I said: ‘Just take me straight away to Middlemore. No other place, but just take me straight to the hospital’,’’ said Lilian.
Because of the strict Covid-19 rules, security would not allow Tofiga to enter into the hospital with his wife. So Lillian went in on her own.
‘‘They let me sit down on the chair because I was feeling weak and from there, and they said to me ‘What’s going on? What’s happening?’ And I was just explain everything I feel at that time and from there they took me straight away to the ICU,’’ said Lilian.
The pair both have a strong Christian faith and Tofiga said it’s the only thing he could lean on during that time to stay hopeful.
‘‘The next time I heard from her she said ‘Please, I’m going to the ICU. Pray for me. Pray for my breathing’,’’ said Tofiga.
Ministry of Health staff haven’t confirmed where exactly Tofiga contracted the virus, but his family believe it’s likely that he got it at Auckland’s International Airport where he works.
Lilian’s condition was serious and she was sedated for an entire month. At one point doctors didn’t expect her to survive.
Unable to breathe on her own and after the maximum permitted time on a ventilator, doctors operated to connect breathing apparatus to Lilian’s trachea in a last ditch attempt to help her breathing.
On May 4, Lilian finally tested negative for Covid-19 but she would spend the next three weeks recovering in hospital.