Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
‘Our mum was dying and we couldn’t even hold her hand’
Siblings were left in anguish after they were unable hold their mum’s hand as she lay in hospital dying after catching coronavirus.
Shirley Brown, 83, from St Mary’s Platt and known to everyone as Debbie, was looking forward to a family holiday in Cyprus, theatre trips with friends, and presenting her baby grandson with a homemade birthday card.
She is the second person in Kent to die from Covid-19, having passed away on Saturday at Tunbridge Wells Hospital.
The grandmother- of- six had underlying health conditions, including COPD, which obstructs air from getting to the lungs, asthma and diabetes.
Taking precautions against the virus since late February, Mrs Brown had only been going out when essential. In the week leading up to March 11, when she developed a headache and a cough, she had only been to Maidstone Hospital, Aldi, and a doctor’s surgery to get a prescription.
The following Thursday, breathing problems she developed the day before became severe and her daughter, Kelly Strong, called an ambulance.
The next day, Ms Strong and her brother were informed their mother’s lungs and kidneys were failing, and she was dying.
The siblings initially weren’t allowed to see her, for fear of the infection spreading.
However, hospital staff relented, and donning masks, the pair were able to speak to their mother for five minutes, although they were not allowed to touch her.
“She was fairly lucid,” said Kelly. “She was saying ‘they think I’m going but I’ve told them I am not going anywhere.’
“She was as strong as an ox and as stubborn as an ox.
“I think it’s the cruelty of it all. In normal circumstances you can go and sit with your relative.
“When our father died we were able to sit with him and be with him. She has been robbed of her life and watching her grandchildren grow up,” Ms Strong said.
A member of a scrapbook-making club, Mrs Brown used to do arts and crafts with her grandchildren, the eldest 20 years old and the youngest, 11 months.
A handmade birthday card for the youngest was left on Mrs Brown’s kitchen table when she was taken to hospital.
“They were absolutely devastated. We are very close as a family,” Ms Strong said.
Mrs Brown’s family, from Borough Green, are now imploring people to remain in their homes, to stop the virus spreading. “We want the public to take the necessary action. People are making it worse for everybody else,” Ms Strong said.