By Mary O’KEEFE

COVID-19 numbers, both the positive cases and deaths, are shared every day but beyond the numbers are people, loved ones and friends who are self isolating, who are hospitalized and who have lost their battle with the coronavirus. The number of deaths, as of Monday, June 8, reached 2,655 in Los Angeles County and continues to rise.

Each death represents a family in mourning. Bryan Walker’s younger sister passed away in April due to COVID-19. She had been battling Huntington’s disease for 25 years and, according to her brother, “didn’t have enough left in the tank to fight off” the coronavirus.

“The last six to seven years she had been in a convalescent home in Sunland,” Walker said of his sister Donna Lee in an interview with CVW.

Huntington’s disease is a genetic disorder that causes a breakdown of nerve cells in the brain. Walker said it is a disorder that leads to loss of muscle control and affects mental abilities – but not in the case of his sister.

“She was as sharp as a tack,” he said.

Though she could no longer communicate by talking because the disease had attacked her vocal cords she was still able to communicate with her family.

“I would go see her every single Tuesday,” he said.

And although before her death she was having more difficulty communicating she still found a way.

In a post on social media about his sister, Walker shared that her life had not always been easy but she was strong and raised two children after her failed marriage. Donna Lee and Walker had lost their dad, who was an important member of Donna Lee’s support system, and then she was diagnosed with Huntington’s. But there were blessings she counted including her stepmother and her two children.

She and her brother had ups and downs as well but underneath it all there was always love.

Walker said he wasn’t sure what happened when she began to get sick with COVID-19.

“Donna was having difficulty breathing,” he said. “She’d had two or three bouts with pneumonia [in the past].”

She went into the hospital with an infection and her blood pressure was low. The doctors at first couldn’t tell if these were due to the slow deterioration because of her disease or if it was something else. They then tested her for COVID and the test came back positive.

“She went into the hospital for what they thought was pneumonia. Her oxygen level kept dropping,” he said. “She was on a ventilator for 10 days; even then her oxygen levels dropped dangerously low.”

It was soon realized that her struggle was too great and after about 11 days she was taken off the ventilator. In about three hours she died.

COVID-19 can bring a lonely death because families are not able to be by the side of their loved ones.

Every night she was in the hospital her brother would call the switchboard and would be transferred to his sister’s floor.

“The nurse would put the phone up by her ear,” he said.

Her children were not allowed to be in her room either and would communicate virtually.

“It was really, really difficult for the kids,” Walker said of his niece and nephew. “I saw her every week [before going into the hospital] and every week I told her I loved her, and she would [communicate] she loved me.”

Walker said he had been preparing for her passing for a long time but when it happened it was still difficult.

“For me not being able to say goodbye [in person] was hard but not as hard as it was for her children,” he said.

In his post about his sister he wrote, “I already miss my sister so much it aches, an ache that comes in on top of the ache of losing my brother a little over a year ago. Here I sit, the oldest and the only survivor of the three Walker children. I’m told that what I’m feeling is survivor’s guilt because I keep wondering why I have been the one to dodge the bullets. And what do I do with this? I’m going to take the pain of loss and, in honor of Donna and Joe, I’m going to continue trying to be the best husband, father, father-in-law, grandfather, brother-in-law, uncle, cousin, boss and friend to everyone in my world.

“Stay safe and healthy and keep remembering what an awesome person my sister was.”

  Mary Okeefe