“I had the symptoms, but I didn't have the battle.”

This is part of a series on Grace Heights Health and Rehabilitation — which had over 40 residents and 35 staff members test positive for COVID.

MORGANTON, NC: I was born with no sight in the left eye and I had a cataract in the right eye. I had surgery on that at 34 years old. And I have a white mass over the optic nerve. I couldn't see on either side and glaucoma took the side vision. So that caused the blindness in the right eye in 2004 or 2005. I raised three kids and took care of a house and all of that. So, it can be dealt with. It can make you bitter or better. It's what you do with it.

It can make you bitter or better. It's what you do with it.

Until recently, I lived with my daughter. Last year, I fell and injured my hip and my leg. After being in the hospital, they sent me here [Grace Heights] for rehab. After getting here, realizing I couldn't go back and have my daughter take care of me, I made a decision to stay here. Now my family wasn't happy with me making the decision to stay, but I'm in my right mind. I felt like I could make my own decision and that's what I did.

In March I felt tightness in the chest and had a lot of coughing. They started giving me breathing treatments four times a day and they put me on other antibiotics and two different kinds of cough syrup. If it wasn't for those, I don't think I would have made it because they caught it early and they treated it. I never was sick enough to go to the hospital. They said I was asymptomatic when they did the testing. I never was sick. I never felt bad or anything like that. I had the symptoms, but I didn't have the battle. 

I have had so many brushes with death and survived. And if it's my time to go, it's my time and I'm ready. 

My daughter is upset now because she thinks she'll never get to hug me again. I told her that’s foolishness because I have had so many brushes with death and survived. And if it's my time to go, it's my time and I'm ready.