Storyteller: Alexa Weaver
Mandy is a forty-nine-year-old who resides in Essexville, Michigan. She is a global project manager at SC Johnson, a wife and a mother of three lovely children. She first heard of Covid-19 through her work in February. Since the pandemic began she has been working from home, but that hasn’t changed much in her life surrounding her job. Mandy was infected with Covid-19 in early July, and so were her children and husband. Mandy has breast cancer, so it was extremely dangerous for her to become infected. Not only did it push back her treatment due to being in quarantine, but it also gave her severe heart and lung damage that needed to heal before she could begin chemotherapy. Her heart now only functions at thirty-nine percent.
In September, Mandy had a single mastectomy. She believes if she would have been able to be treated sooner, she may have been able to save her breast.
Mandy misses socialization and being able to see her loved ones without the fear of becoming ill again. She is immunocompromised from having cancer and going through chemotherapy. A cold could be detrimental to her health, let alone a second round of Covid-19. Despite the loss she has suffered through, she is very grateful for the time she has gained with her family and dogs. One thing Mandy has noticed surrounding face masks is that people do not change them out enough or they don’t wear them properly. Mandy believes that it is disgusting that people have turned a global health crisis into something political, especially when hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost. She hopes that no matter what you believe politically you can put that aside and take the virus seriously. Everyone needs to do their part.
MIPandemicStory 