Mom of immunodeficient toddler posts heartbreaking plea to wear face masks in public

Even now, over six months into the Coronavirus pandemic, many are yet to grasp the importance of wearing face masks while in public. Despite experts repeatedly warning against the dangers of going out without proper precautions and the rising death toll painting a jarring picture of the spread of the virus in the country, anti-maskers continue to believe half-baked conspiracy theories. It is to such people Joanna Beth made a heartbreaking plea this week as she awaited the results of her COVID-19 tests, terrified that she may have passed it on to her immunodeficient 3-year-old son.

Our son Scott was born almost 3 years ago with Cornelia de Lange Spectrum Disorder. He is nearly three years old, 18lbs 8oz an 29.5 inches long. He has no reserves of nutrients or energy. When he gets sick, he crashes fast. He will go from babbling and bouncing around unable to lift his head within hours. When he is sick, he will lose a minimum of one full pound of weight, Beth wrote on Facebook. He gets dehydrated quickly and requires fluids. It takes multiple needle pokes to draw blood and over an hour of a nurse digging around a vein to get blood back and draw blood. He is rarely able to get IV fluids because his veins blow and can’t support a catheter.

There have been a very select few nurses who are able to get blood or start an IV. We are waiting for a port-a-cath to be surgically placed so that we have instant access every time we need it. The only public place Scott has been since the Covid pandemic started was our hospital. We have not brought him in public. We have been in stores we need to go to, the disturbed mother continued. When I go out I chose to wear a mask. I do this, not to protect myself, but because I am choosing to be a part of the Covid-19 solution. I wear a mask to protect those around me from getting sick. I wear a mask to protect those around me from viruses and bacteria that I may carry.

I wear a mask because I care about others and chose to put my own comfort aside to do what is my social duty to protect the life of others, she explained. Should the municipal, provincial, or federal government have to mandate wearing masks in public? Of course not, it should not be a topic of discussion. It should be something that we all do to help one another and protect the most vulnerable members of our society. Unfortunately, too many people have decided that because it’s their body, they should choose, and they have selfishly chosen to put their own comfort first, instead of the lives of others.

So while I sit in our little hospital room awaiting Covid-19 results and praying that I haven’t unknowingly contracted and passed on Covid-19, to my immunodeficient 18lb 3-year-old, I am pleading everyone to just help out the mom of a medically fragile kid and wear your mask in public. Please, I beg you. Do it for the kids like Scott who have endured more medical procedures, needle pokes and hospital stays in their short lives than most endure in their entire lives. His o2 averaged at 88% last night, yet he still can wear one to help slow the spread, Beth concluded. While the concerned mother later revealed in an update that the COVID-19 test had come back negative, netizens left messages of support and promised to wear masks while in public.