Becky's Vaccine Story

NHPCO is pleased to share this piece written by Becky Wilder, volunteer coordinator for Uplifted Care in Bourbonnais, IL. Becky wrote this piece on Thursday, December 17, the day she received her COVID-19 vaccine.

In June of this year, I lost the first person dear to me as a direct result of COVID. 

In August, I lost the second friend to it.

Yesterday, I lost the third -- a very dear friend. No, he was more than a friend, he was family. He was my brother's best friend, my mentor and friend, and my brother from another mother. After several days on a vent, he succumbed yesterday, two days after his 69th birthday.

I've watched so many loved ones who have family in long term care and have been separated from them for months -- unable to hug them, unable to sit with them, unable to just be present. Some of those family members have died alone. On a professional level, as one who manages our 11th Hour program, that's hard for me to hear. As a daughter whose mother died at home in September from natural causes, I cannot fathom having missed her final hours. Thinking of it breaks my heart for those who have had no choice.

I've watched my coworkers for MONTHS putting on layers of PPE, masks, shields, etc. I've watched their weariness, their sadness, their sacrifice. I've heard their stories of going home at night with their faces so red and irritated from the masks that they barely recognize themselves. I've heard them speak of sleeping away from and steering clear overall of their spouses and children to avoid risking exposing someone they love.

This virus is very, very real, and I want to do what I can to respect what so many are going through, and try to not be a catalyst for anyone else getting it. There's a lot of layers to the heartache this virus has caused. So when we got word at work earlier today that one of the local hospitals was giving us the opportunity to get the COVID-19 vaccine, it wasn't even a question. I signed up as soon as we were able, and I got my vaccine at 2:55 p.m. today. It wasn't painful at all. As I sit here now, it is 3:56 p.m. I feel just fine. Like any vaccine I would expect mild symptoms as it gets into my system, but we will see. Still, those symptoms are NOTHING compared to what so many others have been through - and what so many have lost this year as a result of COVID. This is the least I can do.

My hope is that soon the vaccine will be widely available, and that it will be the long, desperately prayed for solution to this pandemic nightmare. I pray that it will protect as it is intended to do, and that no one else will have to be sick with (or die from) this horrible virus.

If you would like to share your experience amid the COVID-19 crisis or receiving the vaccine, please send us your photos and stories so you can be featured in the #hapcFacesOfCaring campaign.