After wife's death, Petrolia, Ont. resident warns others to take COVID-19 more seriously

Petrolia, Ont. resident Joe Agocs remembers his wife Lynda Agocs as an incredibly strong knitter, an avid hockey fan, and a person who was always looking for an excuse to invite company over to try a brand new cooking concoction.More than that, the 71-year-old Joe says Lynda believed in her community.

He recalled a story from before the two moved into their co-op condo in 1997. At the time, the building had very little money. Not missing an opportunity to get involved, Lynda signed on as treasurer to help manage the building's finances.

"After a few years, they realized things were getting a little better financially and they were going to give Lynda a raise," Joe said.

Faced with the opportunity for more payment for the work she was doing, however, Lynda responded in characteristic fashion.

"Lynda said 'If you give me a raise, I'll quit,''' according to Joe. "She knew that money was still tight, but it was getting better She did not want it."

Lynda Agocs died of COVID-19 shortly after 11:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 5 a little more than two weeks after first asking Joe to take her to hospital because she was having difficulty breathing.

According to Joe who wasn't allowed into the hospital because of safety measures taken due to coronavirus doctors in Petrolia initially diagnosed Lynda with pneumonia.

"Later that evening, the hospital called me and said they were going to have to transport Lynda to the ICU in Sarnia because Lynda wasn't able to get enough oxygen," he said.

Most of the people around here are following the rules ...- Joe Agocs

In Sarnia, Lynda was sedated and put on ventilator care. Afew days later, doctors confirmed Lynda had contracted COVID-19.

Even though she was in the ICU, Joe said health-care staff noted that Lynda's condition was improving day by day.

"They actually switched the ventilator over to the point where she would be initiating the breaths," he said. "The ventilator was just doing a little bit of support, rather than the other way around."

Damage to Lynda's muscles and kidneys brought on by COVID-19, however,meant she soon needed to receive dialysis.

"She couldn't move her arms, she couldn't move her hands, all she could do is just move her head slightly from side to side," Joe said.

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But while Lynda was in hospital, Joe said he began to feel mild symptoms of COVID-19 himself.

"I was running a temperature in the mid to high [30s]," he said. "I wanted to sleep all the time, I was sleeping for the first five days or so, something like 18 hours a day or more. I had absolutely no appetite whatsoever."

He said a doctor with whom he spoke while Lynda was in hospital was "99.9 per cent sure" that he had COVID-19.

As days went on, however, his condition improved, his temperature returned to a normal range and he slowly regained his appetite.

"Maybe that was just the regular flu, I have no idea," he said. "But it would be coincidental that I've got those very mild symptoms at the same time when my wife had COVID-19."

There are some in our community ... I feel that they don't see this as serious as what it is.- Joe Agocs

And it wasn't just Joe, Lynda's condition continued to steadily improvewhile she was in hospital. Medical staff even told Joe that Lynda's lungs were recovering to the point that staff wanted to remove ventilator and dialysis support to see how she would react.

On the afternoon of April 4, however, Lynda's blood pressure plummeted.

"There was absolutely nothing they could do," Joe said. "They put the phone next to her ear and I said my last goodbyes to her."

"Then I got a call [on the night of April 5] indicating that Lynda had passed away."

Having witnessed his wife's journey with coronavirus, Joe now wants others to take COVID-19 more seriously.

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"Most of the people around here are following the rules of social distancing and washing their hands and doing stuff like that," he said. "But there are some in our community and all over I feel that they don't see this as serious as what it is."

For Joe, that's not good enough.

"The point is, you could have it, not feel anything, but you could be passing it on to somebody else," he said." And that person, like my wife, caught it and she eventually died."

Joe has sincereceived the green light from public health officials to go out into the community.

"I did not want to go out if there was any possibility that I was carrying anything, because I didn't want to inadvertently infect somebody."

Lynda Agocs was 69 years-old. She would have celebrated her 70th birthday in August.

Joe and Lynda raised three children together and had six grandchildren who Lynda "just worshipped."

As of Wednesday morning, Sarnia-Lambton hadlogged 87 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and eight deaths. Five people have recovered.