LENEXA, Kan. — Friday marks two years since COVID-19 arrived in the Kansas City metropolitan area.
Since then, tens of thousands of people lost their lives to the virus in Missouri and Kansas. While healthcare professionals have reached significant advancements in medicine to help prevent the spread, many say the pandemic is far from over.
Joanna Wilson is the widow of her late husband, Dennis Wilson. He was the first man in Johnson County to lose his battle with COVID-19. She wonders how this could have happened to a man who did everything right.
“Three months short of our 50th wedding anniversary this all happened,” said Wilson. “That didn’t make me angry, that made me intensely sad, that he couldn’t have the funeral he deserved.”
Even as a registered nurse for 53 years, Wilson felt frustrated there was nothing she could do to help. They prayed for a vaccine back then — one Dennis Wilson did not live long enough to see. She believes it could have given him a fighting chance.
“That's where I’ve been frustrated is the acceptance of the vaccine, because it actually almost offends me,” Wilson said.
The path to healing has felt like a long and lonely road, as she was left alone in quarantine to grieve the loss of her husband and her friends that followed.
“And the isolation, still, of being here by myself… I, I like to have people around,” Wilson said.
For Wilson, two years of the pandemic marks two years without her life partner. She says the community should not forget why they have been taking preventative measures.
“If he could come back for an hour that’s what he would say — don’t let this happen to you,” Wilson said.
