Welcome to A Letter to My Father

The following posts are from a piece of writing I began when my father fell ill with covid in the autumn of 2020. I haven’t been able to complete it until now, the spring of 2024. I’m publishing it at a time when things have moved beyond masks and even beyond vaccines for many. I’m publishing it for the thousands of thousands who lost and are still losing loved ones to the covid virus. I'm publishing it in the hope that our loss is officially and publically acknowledged with a national covid memorial.

In the last week of my dad's life, I was alone with him during lockdown, with the Sue Ryder carers coming in twice a day and members of my family coming to visit outside the window. This small piece of writing documents the events leading up to his diagnosis of "End of Life" and the actual end of his life.

It's a record of how it was to lose someone you love during the pandemic.

What happened?

In late autumn of 2020, my father fell and banged his head. He was discharged from hospital after two weeks, but a week later, he tested positive for covid 19. We tried to care for him at home, but he got too ill. He was in hospital for six weeks. We were not allowed to visit. In mid-December, he was declared End of Life. A kind sister on his ward helped us get my father home to die. My father at this time of his life needed dialysis. By declaring him End of Life, dialysis was withdrawn. I wrote most of the posts while caring for my father in the last week of his life. I speak for myself, and myself only. I believe we should have a national day of mourning and a national monument to those we lost.

This goes out to all of you who lost loved ones during the pandemic.

Do leave me a comment, if you feel moved to do so.