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Emerita Gumapac
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Philippines - Calgary
Art by Emily Honderich
Emerita Gumapac story
Emerita Gumapac came to Calgary in 2014 with her husband and daughter. In Fall 2016, she took up the Ready to Teach Program at SAIT. In 2019 she became a CIWA volunteer and acquired an administrative position at MTG Healthcare Academy. In the Philippines, she worked with the government as an instructor for over three decades.
FLIGHT OF FAITH
I knew my son-in-law had the no-smell symptom, and I feared he contracted the deadly virus from his workplace. I also developed some signs of the infection. For five days, I suffered from a sore throat, coughing, and back pain while my spouse felt joint pains and had a sore throat.
On July 13th, my family was downhearted as we learned that my son-in-law tested positive for COVID-19.
My daughter was breastfeeding her two-month-old baby boy then. My 63-year-old hubby has asthma and unresolved atherosclerosis (plaque in his carotid). I am 61 years old, and I’ve been hypertensive for 17 years.
Scary as it would seem, and not far from the reality and possibility that the coronavirus had already contaminated the four of us; my grandson, my 29-year-old daughter, my husband, and I were swab tested, and we all came out positive.
Very depressed, physically, and emotionally drained, I needed to be stronger, much braver for my whole family.
We received a series of calls and interviews from the Alberta Health Services to monitor our health conditions, make contact tracing, and reminded us further of health safety protocols and restrictions.
However, my husband manifested more signs of the infection. He got a fever, chills, and hypoxemia, which prompted us to call 911 on July 21st. Thanks to Calgary EMS for a very quick response. My husband went to the hospital all by himself because we were all restricted from going out.
My heart cried out to God, “Please, Lord Jesus, enable us to go through this life-threatening situation.” It was a moment in my life that all I could do was RELY on Him, my family’s flight from the storms that rage our body to a place where only FAITH will do.
Thank you to the ever-dedicated health professionals of Peter Lougheed Hospital, who attended to the medical concerns of my spouse. After several hours of examination, he was diagnosed with having pneumonia. He came home later with a better breathing condition and back to a normal level of blood oxygen.
On July 18th, my son-in-law and I were declared isolation free. However, because the family stays in the same house, although in separate bedrooms, we needed to extend home isolation until everybody was free of COVID-19 symptoms, which finally happened on July 29th!
Praise God, we survived!
"My heart cried out to God, “Please, Lord Jesus, enable us to go through this life-threatening situation.” It was a moment in my life that all I could do was RELY on Him, my family’s flight from the storms that rage our body to a place where only FAITH will do."