New Year’s Eve came around, and my family and I were home as a family with my father. Celebrating and toasting that we made it through the year, healthy, strong, and full of a new appreciation and love for one another.
Just 24 hrs later, I started coughing and not feeling well. I knew it was asthma, as there was a change of weather. Not for a second did I think that it would be COVID. I had not even been going to the grocery store. My only daily destinations were my office (which had the same 5 people working in it, all of which are regularly tested) and my home.
By January 2nd, I could not breathe. Oximeters were brought out, numbers went down to the 80s. I called the doctor, and he immediately told me to go to the ER. I started to cry and told him that I didn’t want to expose my family or myself to COVID. He then responded and told me to wait, do another asthma treatment, and to give him a call if it got better. It did not. I drove to the ER, absolutely terrified and alone. I couldn’t even have my husband come with me, as I didn’t want to expose him and they wouldn’t have let him into the hospital anyways. Upon arriving, I was asked what my symptoms were. Upon hearing them, I was immediately taken to the COVID unit. I was terrified. I waited about an hour before the doctor came in and asked me how I could have contracted the virus. I said, what are you talking about – there is no possible way that I had it. He administered the test and treated me with prednisone. The doctor said, “We have no beds in the hospital. You can either stay here and wait or go home and be treated with the same treatment.” I chose to go home. Not knowing if this doctor was right about me being positive or not, I started isolating myself.
That morning, my daughter, Sophia, came down with the worst body aches ever, as did I, along with other symptoms. Loss of appetite and body aches that you could feel in your bones. A few hours later, the doctor called and said that I was positive for COVID. Of course, all that went through my mind was, how… they had to be wrong. Knowing the severity of this virus, my entire family was immediately tested – not one, not two, not three, but every member of my family had tested positive for COVID. Out of fear, I had my father get a COVID test – which also came back positive. All I could think to myself was “my poor father.” I had just lost my stepmom 6 weeks before this due to pulmonary hypertension, which is a type of high blood pressure that affects arteries in the lungs and the heart.
My doctor immediately took action knowing all my underlying health conditions – putting me on blood thinners, steroids, antibiotics, using a nebulizer, and other natural remedies. My days consisted of barely lifting my head off of the pillow – except to take my medications and being full of worry and constantly checking in on my family to make sure they were okay. Thankfully, everyone but myself recovered from the virus-like one would for the flu. Gabriel barely coughed and Sophia recovered in just under 5 days.
On day 9 of testing positive for the virus, I took a turn for the worse. I was told that if I was able to make it to day 10 without getting worse, I was out of the woods. Unfortunately, I kept getting worse. I called my doctor, who then began to call in-home nursing programs, in hopes that somebody would be able to come to my home and give me antibodies.
Despite being sicker than a dog, I was most worried about my father and my husband (who was on day 2 himself with the virus). I waited for my father for six hours while he received the antibodies. He recovered within days. All I can say is thank God for modern medicine, my faith in a higher power, and my family.
Anyone who received antibodies for COVID-19 knows that it is like a 24-hour war inside your body. Either you win, or the virus wins. Thankfully, my father and I won the war. I continued to work for 3 weeks on zoom. My entire team called me crazy for still working. I had them get tested regularly and thankfully no one ever tested positive.
Having a lot of health conditions, though difficult and not deadly, I always had a positive outlook on life. But, when I would turn on the news, it was hard to stay optimistic. Everything was heartbreaking to watch. So, the TV was always off.
As days passed, I became stronger. No one knew that I had COVID except for my team and my family. 3 weeks into my recovery, I made the decision to tell the ownership where I had been. I was terrified because I had spent the last 9 months telling them to keep doing it right so that there were no COVID cases in their gyms or their families, but here I was recovering from the virus.
Los Angeles became the epicenter for the virus. People were dying in the thousands daily until, thankfully, the vaccine was officially released. As more and more people got the vaccine, we were slowly getting our lives back.
As we finally approach the “endemic,” we are thrilled to say that our franchise is now fully open, and we are selling locations left and right. WRTS Worldwide recently hit the incredible milestone of 100 locations across the globe! As more and more inquiries roll in every day to bring the We Rock mission to special needs communities in every corner of the world, we expect this number to grow rapidly in 2022.
I am so proud of everything that my Corporate team and Franchisees have accomplished over the past few years despite the many obstacles and uncertainties that stood in our way. My Corporate team has spent countless hours supporting our owners to ensure that health, safety, and compliance remain a top priority, while also equipping them with courage and tools to best serve their customers. Our franchise owners have shown extreme perseverance through their dedication to their communities during these difficult times and continue to provide inclusive, sensory-safe, fun environments for children of ALL abilities. I have no doubt that every member of the We Rock family has and will continue to be a beacon of light through any circumstance that comes their way!!!
Thank you to our We Rock communities worldwide for your constant love and support through this historically trivial time. I promise you that we are ready to ROCK to the fullest this year and beyond! If you are interested in joining our team, we would be thrilled to have you aboard! Learn more and apply today.
