Separated due to coronavirus pandemic, Washington woman says goodbye to dying mother via FaceTime

by: CNN Newsource

Posted: Mar 31, 2020 / 08:02 AM CDT / Updated: Mar 31, 2020 / 08:02 AM CDT

(CNN NEWSOURCE) — One of the saddest things about COVID-19 is that people are dying from it without a single loved one there for comfort.

Family and friends can’t come near without the risk of getting sick.

Michelle Bennett, who lives in Washington state, explained to CNN’s Brooke Baldwin what it was like to say good bye to her mother from a distance.

“They knew we couldn’t be with her. I could tell the emotion in both there and the doctors, voices of their frustration knowing we couldn’t be there or, or be the risk, the infection. Um, so the nurse, Tatyana at the end, she had called me about 10 o’clock at night and said, um, you know, your mother’s breathing is changing.
“You know, we can see that it probably won’t be much longer. Um, I’m going to take myself as it was her personal cell phone and I’m gonna, I’m going to go and get dressed in all the protective gear I have to be in. And then I’m going to put the phone up to her face so that you can tell her you love her and say your goodbyes.
And it was so touching just to know that I couldn’t be there. And I said to the nurse, I said, can you please hold her hand? Can you rub her head? Can you pretend? You know, like I were there with her and she said she will not be alone. We will stay with her to the end.
And, uh, so 10 minutes later we get the phone call for FaceTime and, you know, she put it right up to my mother’s face. And, um, you know, I could, I could tell my mom I loved her and how much I was going to miss her.”