“Aiutaci! Non vogliamo soffrire di più!” cried the people of Milan.
The number of COVID-19 cases has soared in the city, with no intention of stopping.
Hospitals were overflowed with patients, leaving most infected people being treated among the streets during the winter temperatures of 7 degrees.
As a health worker in the streets, you can hear the cries of the people, wanting them to be cured. Their cries and screams were unbearable. It broke my heart the first time I went to Milan.
Italy was a massive hotspot before I came to the country. I don’t know what made me go there, despite my family members refusing to let me go. I was instructed by the World Health Organization to treat the most critical patients in Ospedale Centrale della Lombardia, locally known as OCDL. It was the largest hospital in Milan, and has the most coronavirus patients in all of Italy.
My first patient was named Margaretha Fiuccini, aged 34. She had a loving husband, who died from COVID-19 three days earlier, and two children, who were only toddlers at the time. She’s been on the ventilator for around two days now, and her condition is not getting better anytime soon.
I don’t know Italian much, so I started talking to her in English.
“How are you feeling, Mrs. Fiuccini?” I asked her.
“Please, call me Margaretha,” she said in a weak tone.
I began fixing her ventilator when she asked me something.
“I know I’m going to pass away soon, I feel so weak…” she said weakly.
“You are not going to die, Margaretha. There is still hope for you to see your children,” I replied.
She grabbed my arm, and she seemed she was about to plead.
“Heal me, please! I do not want my children to know that we left them so early. I do not want my children to grow up in a world without their parents. They have grandparents, uncles and aunts, though, but parents are irreplaceable.”
I stood there in shock. I then left to go to the restroom, thinking about what may happen if she is already gone. She is slowly deteriorating as the hour passes, and her fate is now lying on God’s hands.
Me, Margaretha and a few health workers treating her would become friends, an unlikely event happening in these times. Margaretha turned out to be a fond and ambitious person, and despite her condition, was able to pull out jokes, making the crowd burst into laughter and joy. Margaretha was the person that made me realize why I was recruited to help the people. It was these moments that helped bring all of us together in times of crisis. It was a week full of happiness and hope, joy and relief. But, all of these did not last.
Margaretha Fiuccini was declared dead due to COVID-19 at 4:15 AM last night.
As soon as we heard the news, most of us broke down that night. She was a loving and caring person, and did not deserve death immediately.
Her death made me realize how short life was. One day, you’re happy and healthy as you can be, but the next, you’re suffering and are just fighting to survive.
That is why I commited my life to helping the people of Milan, even if that means risking my life as a whole, as long as they do not end up like Margaretha. But that has caused risk and damage to my own health.
I began to cough and have a fever of forty-one degrees. I began to feel pneumonia symptoms within the week. I was later isolated and was treated to the ventilator, as I am fighting to survive.
I have commited my life to becoming a frontliner in this global crisis. It seems like I am ending up like Margaretha after all. I have saved countless lives as soon as I entered service as a health worker in Milan. Now that I am infected, I now know what it is like to be on their shoes. It has given me more perspective about life than I previously thought after Margaretha died. They say, when you are dying, that is the only way you are cherishing your fond memories with your family and loved ones. I have to admit now, the latter is true.
We do not know when God is going to take us from this world. We do not know what tomorrow, the next week, or the coming months would behold. We must cherish and remember the moments we have in the past and now. Because, when you end up dying, you might not even have time to do that.
I am grateful for the life God gave me, and I am forever grateful I have saved people from harm. Thank you for reading my story.
Literature by John Yu
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