New Jersey

We lost our oldest son, Johnny, to Covid-19 May 5, 2020. He was only 33 and had gotten engaged in Dec 2019. He was so excited to start planning their wedding. But instead, we had to make funeral arrangements. We had to wait 3 months before we could have a celebration of life for him. He was taken way too soon. We love and miss him dearly. Fly high Johnny and Laugh Loud!!

Christopher Zeller Blocke was my youngest brother. One year ago today on June 3, 2020, Chris passed away from COVID-19 complications. He was 55 years old. Chris was in a rehabilitation center, waiting for elective surgeries to resume in New Jersey. He needed a 1 – 2 hour procedure on his left leg. Chris and I shared many good memories while growing up. However for many years as adults, Chris and I were estranged and did not speak to one another. Most recently, we began to reconcile and to keep in touch. Chris loved music, especially Frank Zappa and Yes, and enjoyed going to local concerts. We shared liking the Philadelphia Eagles and the television show ‘This Is Us’. I believe that his greatest joy was riding his jet ski along the bay in Ocean City, New Jersey. Chris had medical issues for many years before his death and always wanted to ‘get back out on the water again’. He never had the opportunity to do so. So, our brother Jeff and I will scatter his ashes in the bay in Ocean City. We will take Chris back out on the water again. I am sharing this story in memory of Chris and pray that he is finally at peace.

My mom was a strong praying woman. She loved her children and grandchildren. Her favorite holiday was Christmas and enjoyed cooking and seeing the smile her granddaughter would give to her before opening her gifts. Her light was diminished to this pandemic. She was exceptionally healthy and able to do her daily chores. She has remaining only 2 daughters and 2 grandchildren left who loved her dearly.

I wish we weren’t writing this story. It isn’t a story we wish to tell or relive. But he deserves to be mentioned and remembered in every way. At the height of the pandemic, my dad and mom quarantined themselves not leaving the house except to get essentials from the grocery store. Still, they both contracted the virus. He was the type of guy who usually brushed off ailments saying it’s no big deal. So when he approached my mom saying he was having trouble breathing, it signaled that he was seriously ill. So my mom called 911 and the EMTs took him to the hospital where he was eventually intubated. His condition was uncertain everyday showing signs of progress one day and then getting worse later. On April 7, 2020, approximately one week after being admitted, we were told that he wasn’t going to make it. The toughest thing was that we couldn’t be there for him. We couldn’t visit, hold his hand, or talk to him. We watched his last breath through a phone camera. It was the most difficult thing our family has ever gone through. We lost the most wonderful husband, dad and grandfather anyone can ever have. We love him very much and will miss him everyday, forever.

, near my youngest sister. Mom became lethargic Easter weekend. On Easter, my sister did a drive-by visit to the facility. She saw mom through the window. I saw mom on FaceTime the next day. Tuesday after Easter, mom woke up very lethargic and then became unconscious that day and was transported to the nearby hospital. She tested positive for Covid-19 prior to admittance. Each day, the doctors updated us that mom was still comatose. Each of us her 4 daughters and her grandchildren were allowed one FaceTime visit to tell mom anything we needed to in case she didn’t pull through. Each day, the nurses allowed one daughter to call and get an update for the rest of us in the family or just to tell mom that we were all thinking of her and they we all loved her. 3 weeks after her admittance, on May 2, our mother died. My youngest sister and her husband said prayers on behalf of our family at the funeral and observed her burial. We hope to have a celebration of her life in spring 2021.

My daughter was 35-years-old. She tested positive on Valentines’s Day. She gave birth to the 3rd child at home on February 16th. They went to the hospital in separate ambulances where she went to the Covid-19 unit. She ended up on a ventilator after a week and was intubated for a week. She miraculously came off for a week and was recovering well. We were making plans for her coming home, when after a week she was intubated again. She passed from Covid-19 on March 17th. She never got to hold her newborn daughter. She never got to say goodbye to her other children.

My husband, Garrett S. Rudnicki, was a retired firefighter/EMT, after serving 20 years on the Department. Prior to that, he was a public servant for our community in Linden, New Jersey for 17 years at the City Municipal Garage. Garry was a vibrant, active, healthy 65 year old man prior to Covid-19. He worked a part-time job and took care of maintaining two homes. He was kind, friendly, helpful, and loving. Anyone who knew him, would agree. Always smiling. On Monday, November 9, 2020, he complained of shortness of breath; on Tuesday, November 10th he complained of a backache and stomach ache; his doctor examined him and recommended an ultra-sound of his stomach. On Wednesday, he worked his part time job, came home with a fever, and went to bed early, claiming he felt like he was coming down with a cold. Thursday, November 12th, he went for a Covid-19 test, the results of which did not come back until Monday, November 16th, but by then we suspected he had Covid-19 as his symptoms grew worse over the weekend. He was afraid to go to the hospital, for fear that he would not return. On Tuesday, November 17th, he was taken by ambulance to the hospital, as he fainted on me in the morning when he woke up. I watched as he was loaded into the ambulance, kissed him and told him everything would be okay and I’d see him in a few days when he came home. Next day, after speaking with him for a short time on the phone, one hour later, the hospital called and said they needed to put him on a ventilator as his oxygen levels were dangerously low. For three weeks, his condition deteriorated daily, from a bacterial infection, fungal infection, and then sepsis. 3 weeks after he was hospitalized, he died on December 8, 2020. Our only daughter and I could not visit him; we could only facetime him when the nurses had time to help us; we had to say goodbye to him through glass doors in the hospital’s ICU. Covid-19 stole my amazing, wonderful husband from me, and it also stripped me of the ability to be there for him at a time when he most needed my support and comfort. It is a loss that I will never recover from; a loss that is so deep.; a loss that was so unnecessary.

My wonderful stepdad of 32 yrs past after a 5 week battle with COVID-19. A healthy 76 yr old. He suffered a very lonely 2020 after losing mom in 2019. And he suffered a very lonely, scary 5 weeks. No visitors allowed.

My brother was admitted into a nursing home facility. Residing for 5 months and contracted Covid-19. My brother was so vulnerable as he also suffered from mental illness. He fought Covid-19 for 41 days, he was intubated on day 4. It was the hardest watching him deteriorate over FaceTime and say our final goodbyes.