After Pamela Addisons husband Martin battled coronavirus for nearly a month in the hospital, the 36-year-old mother had to sit down with her 2-year-old daughter Elsie.<\/p>\n
I had to tell her that Papa wasnt coming back home, Pamela recalled. At 36, I never thought Id be having a conversation with her about her Dad dying.<\/p>\n
Elsie and her 17-month-old brother Graeme are two of the 40,000 young children in the U.S. who have lost a parent to COVID-19.<\/p>\n
Researchers recently wrote that the number of young children who have lost a parent is staggering, with an estimated 37,300 to 43,000 already affected.<\/p>\n
Martin was 44 years old when he died last spring. Immediately, Pamela noticed the impact on her daughter.<\/p>\n
She stopped eating and looked sad all the time, Pamela said of Elsie.<\/p>\n
Going through your own grief and seeing your young little daughter like this was quite challenging, she added. I feel a lot of my pain as I look at them. Theyve missed out on a lifetime they should have had with their dad Being a dad was his dream.<\/p>\n
Martin, a speech pathologist who attended Boston University, contracted the virus last March while working in a New Jersey hospital.<\/p>\n
He was in peoples faces all the time, helping people who had strokes and oral cancer, and would assess their swallowing abilities, Pamela said.<\/p>\n
He felt the first symptoms a day after Elsies birthday on March 18, and later spent 26 days in the hospital. He died on April 29.<\/p>\n
You dont hear about younger people dying from it, so you feel so alone and isolated, as if nobody else is going through this, Pamela said.<\/p>\n
After seeing her daughters immediate struggles, she put her in therapy, which has definitely helped her, Pamela said.<\/p>\n
She has fewer moments of sadness, the mother said.<\/p>\n
I didnt realize she was avoiding all the foods she would eat with her Papa, Pamela added. She was telling me she was upset, but I didnt catch those clues until therapy.<\/p>\n
A week or so after Martin died, Pamela received a card in the mail from a fellow COVID-19 widow who also had young children. Pamela realized she was no longer alone, and that many young parents are losing spouses to the virus.<\/p>\n
As a result, the New Jersey mother created a Facebook group called Young Widows and Widowers of Covid-19, where those widows can come together to support one another. There are now 500 members in the Facebook group.<\/p>\n
Its now a place to talk about our childrens grief, and figure out how to help them, Pamela said. That feeling of loneliness before, I dont feel that now because so many of us are in similar situations. Its the best group you dont want to belong to.<\/p>\n
She worries about the long-term impact the loss will have on Elsie and Graeme.<\/p>\n
My son was only 5 months, so hes clueless to what has happened, Pamela said. When he finds out, I dont know how that will affect him. He could be angry he never got to know his Dad.<\/p>\n
The researchers who estimated 40,000 young children have lost a parent wrote that sweeping national reforms are needed to address the health, educational, and economic fallout affecting children.<\/p>\n
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40,000 young children who have lost a parent to coronavirus: I had to tell her that Papa wasnt coming back home - Boston Herald<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After Pamela Addisons husband Martin battled coronavirus for nearly a month in the hospital, the 36-year-old mother had to sit down with her 2-year-old daughter Elsie. I had to tell her that Papa wasnt coming back home, Pamela recalled. At 36, I never thought Id be having a conversation with her about her Dad dying. Continue reading