On Being Immunocompromised

The world was told in no uncertain words that if people weren't above 65 years old or immunocompromised, there was little risk of death if we contracted COVID-19. But what went through the minds of the people who did meet those criteria? This is the story of one person on being immunocompromised during COVID-19.

How did family members and loved ones respond? How have we circled the most at risk in our own circles? Are we responding at all?

These are the questions most circling my mind right now. And I want to offer my personal experience and commentary. COVID-19 is affecting everyone and it’s up to us to respond relationally—in a way that lets people know they aren’t alone, that we’re in this together.

I could easily say we’re in unprecedented times. But I don’t want to say that even though it’s true. Something about it sounds overused and wrung out. As everyone has adopted it into their language, it has lost its emotion.

When someone talks about COVID-19 and the uncertainty it has brought to everyone, it doesn’t shed light on the personal and emotional truths people are dealing with. It doesn’t paint a picture detailing the normal everyday doubts, fears, concerns, joys and triumphs of the effected—which is everyone.

Relationally Responding to COVID-19

So what is COVID-19 doing?

It’s changing our world. The world we knew before March 11, 2020, doesn’t exist anymore. For the first time in our lifetime, we have uninterrupted time to pay attention to things we’ve rarely paid attention to prior—and decide to work on things.

As with any tragedy, COVID-19 has brought people together. Families started talking as a whole unit on a regular basis. Individuals decided to step out and be uncomfortable to take care of their friends.

Relationships are becoming a bigger and bigger priority as coronavirus continues its trek.

While it continues its destruction and causes fear, I've taken the opportunity during this period of intense physical isolation to sit down and talk to my sister.

Back when coronavirus—or, the rona—was making its way to the United States, there still wasn’t much anyone really knew about the virus. You could argue there still isn’t much in the grand scheme of things.

However, the world was told that the majority of the people most effected were older, had preexisting health conditions and/or are immunocompromised. And the majority of people probably pictured what one of those people looks like. Being immunocompromised can mean you have a well-known disease such as diabetes, or a lesser known disease such as DiGeorge Syndrome.

When this news came out, the only guidelines being offered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was to treat the rona as you would the normal flu and take care to make sure you washed your hands regularly. Even for the immunocompromised and the elderly, there wasn’t much they were told to do to protect themselves from contracting the virus—a virus the majority of doctors and scientists didn’t know much about or how to handle in the first place.

“Being at Risk Looks Like Me”

My sister is in the immunocompromised group. Diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis in 2013, my sister Chelsea has gone through years of learning to understand her own disease. She's tried countless methods of treatment. And the journey kept going even while she dealt with flare ups.

In most stories where disease is a character, the disease often wins. The uncertainty the disease causes can wheedle its way into a relationship and reek destruction. It can break relationships as each partner tries to figure a way to survive—relationally, emotionally, mentally, spiritually.

But in my sister’s case, her disease has only brought her and her husband Joe close...