#keithwisecup

[rachbabe6-blog]

[rachbabe6-blog]

[rachbabe6-blog]

[rachbabe6-blog]

[rachbabe6-blog]

[rachbabe6-blog]

A year ago, I stumbled upon several Covid Memorials on Facebook, which inspired me to honor Keith by adding his name. The moment I saw his picture displayed, my heart lifted, and I felt a sense of connection, as if his life was still recognized by the world. Motivated by this experience, I began collecting names from family members from all over the world. I have created a traveling memorial in the state of Ohio. The overwhelming love and support from these families has been truly heartwarming. In keeping Keith's memory alive, I also feel a sense of purpose in commemorating others. To date, we have over 550 names in the Covid Legacy Memorial, and we have officially become a nonprofit organization, with three more events planned for 2025.

[rachbabe6-blog]

It's early in the morning. My body still aches from the previous day. As I'm going about my daily work I come across a respiratory nurse. I don't recall her being here before, I haven't noticed her in the hospital but to be honest in the hustle and bustle of the days I don't always look at faces. For some reason all my intuition tells me to talk to her. I fight it but eventually I work up the courage to ask her some questions about ventilators and told her about my son Keith..

She asked me how old he was and what his name is.

I tell her and to my surprise she tells me that she took care of my son when he was in the hospital with covid. She tears up as we flow through the conversation that honestly took my breath away.

I say “ did I do the right thing?”” I just need to know that I did because Mom guilt is hard. I always wonder if I did everything he needed or if we made the right choices”

She set my heart at ease and told me I did.

She remembered details about his care that solidified that she indeed did remember him. “ He always did everything I asked him to. things just got really hard. He struggled with being proned and ended up on the bipap all the time."

It wasn't Keith's fault. It wasn't my fault.

She told me that a respiratory nurse on 3rd shift Cody really adored Keith. He took it hard when Keith passed.

Thank you for remembering my boy.

Thank you for hugging me.

Thank you for doing the best you could to save his life.

Sometimes we need the reassurance. We need to know our people are remembered. We need to know we made the right choices.

My momma heart really needed to know.

I miss him. Boy do I miss him terribly.

[rachbabe6-blog]

2 years ago this was our conversation.

Looking back on it now I realize I never worded things like that before " hey if you're alive"

I kept reaching out to Keith. I knew something was wrong.

2 days after he replied is when he was hospitalized.

We both had no idea that covid was tearing through him.

This next month I'll be reliving each day again through my Facebook memories. I don't regret documenting it all because I feel sharing his story truly helped others but it'll be a hard month.

As much as I know I'll be pushing through it please also know that I will honor my feelings as well. I expect to cry. I'm okay with that. It's better than bottling it all up.

I miss this kid of mine so much.

I can hear his laughter in my head, I can visualize his walk that was always 10000 times faster than everyone else around him. I can see him dancing and singing without a care in the world.

I can feel those hugs I always got after we went out to eat.

I'll cling to these things as much as possible. I'll cling to the beautiful memories.