Presenter Liz Bonnin has shared the heartbreaking news that her mum sadly passed away at Christmas after contracting Covid-19.
The French-Irish host revealed while it was, and continues to be, an incredibly difficult time, she’ll be forever grateful to the hospital staff in the UK who looked after her mum during her final days.
“It’s hard to put into words just how extraordinary the @NHSuk nurses and doctors have been,” she began.
“It strikes me once again, thanks to the faceless angels I spoke to on the end of a phone, often in the dead of night, just how beautiful we humans can be – compassionate, dedicated, strong, selfless, brave, honest, empathetic – traits that as a society we seem to have forgotten we are all capable of as we continue to deepen the divides between us out of fear, out there in the world.”
Liz continued, “I don’t know how to start healing from the way mum had to die but what I do know is that she was a victim of the ongoing mishandling of the pandemic, and the blatant misunderstanding of what it takes to contain the virus and therefore protect the economy. We didn’t listen to and act on the science.
“My world crumbled as I watched her suffer the consequences of what we continue to prioritise in much of the global north at the cost of environmental and human health, in an age of blind partisanship, rampant misinformation and absurd conspiracy theories.
“I dearly hope that in my lifetime we will collectively wake up and reject our addiction to monetary gain and short term political goals, and recognise the true value of connectedness, community, wellbeing, kindness and caring for our planet and each other – no matter our age.
“There was a time when we revered our elders, when it would have been unheard of to speak of older people as more dispensable than others. My mother was not a less important human. Nor was she just a statistic.
” We have it in us to be better. The NHS heroes I’ve had the honour of speaking to and sometimes of seeing briefly at the ICU doors that I couldn’t go through, who not only took care of my mum but of me too, and many thousands of others, are testament to that. We have it in us.”
Family and friends shared their heartfelt condolences with Liz.
Close pal and The Fall actress Bronagh Waugh said, “Ach Liz, I’m so sorry for your heartbreaking loss. Unimaginable what you have been through. Sending you so much love and my deepest condolences on the passing of your mummy.”
Out thoughts are with Liz and her family at this difficult time.