While the COVID-19 pandemic has left many taking precautions in order to prevent the spread, immuno-compromised individuals must take these precautions within their own family.
“It’s been tough, we really haven’t had a place where we can go very much,” said Sheila Crabbe, a mother of two, and step-mother of three.
Crabbe’s two biological daughters, Jessica and Melissa, share the same disability that would significantly increase the severity of their symptoms if they were to catch COVID-19.
“We were told by their doctor at the very beginning that they wouldn’t survive this, that we need to keep them safe because this will kill them,” said Crabbe.
With such an importance put on remaining healthy, Crabbe decided that the best course of action would be to remove herself and her daughters from the busy home she shares with her husband and step children.
The three of them left and lived at a campground away from the rest of the family, which inadvertently caused more anxieties due to the remoteness of their new location.
Later, they decided to leave the campground and stay with Crabbe’s father in B.C. until a time they thought it would be safer to return.
“I just knew his level of risk tolerance and ours is pretty much the same, we both have to be just as careful,” said Crabbe.
Crabbe and her daughters spent more than a month away from the rest of the family, eventually moving back home, but still being wary of the risks involved with their return.
“We haven’t been able to really do much of anything with our friend group,” said Richard Crabbe, Sheila’s husband.
“We need to be very, very careful, probably way more careful than most other people do.”
While they try to retain a sense of normalcy using crafts and video calls, the entire family must work as a unit to ensure the safety of Jessica and Melissa, both in and out of the house.
As the current numbers show the active cases in Alberta are rising. The Crabbe family hope to see a swifter and more efficient response from the government to tackle to spread.
We were told by their doctor at the very beginning that they wouldn’t survive this, that we need to keep them safe because this will kill them. – Sheila Crabbe
The city of Calgary has already implemented stricter rules as of Nov. 6, putting a limit on the number of attendees at indoor family gatherings as well, according to the government of Alberta website.
But as the days go on, they continue to prepare for a future that is both uncertain and anxious, knowing everything could change at a moment’s notice.
“Just never knowing where we’re going to be from week to week and just kind of holding our breath for the last six months has been a bit of a challenge,” said Sheila Crabbe.