Sara Sandstrom-Kobi, Nederland. Teachers around the country have been inundated with emails on instructions on how to provide home learning for our students. Boulder Valley School District is no exception to this. Then one of those emails made this whole situation more real and more fearful. The teachers and staff from Nederland Elementary (NES) received an email that made our hearts ache. One of our colleagues tested positive for COVID-19.  

Please, read the entire article before you panic or spread false rumors. A friend is willing to share her story so we can learn and break through some of the ignorance surrounding the pandemic. Let’s listen to her. 

Music teacher Susan Jones took some time to go to Durango to visit her son in mid-March. While there she and her son and his girlfriend showed signs of the virus. She went back home to Boulder and started to get really sick. Susan wants to make it very clear that she was not in Nederland or at NES at any time during this. She has been home.

After being home for two days with fatigue, shortness of breath, body aches and then a high temperature she had an online chat with a doctor at Kaiser Medical Center. She had lost her sense of taste and smell. Ms. Susan’s husband drove her to a Kaiser facility in Lakewood to get tested for COVID-19. She was led into a large tent where everyone was covered in protective gear. She was the only patient. She says it felt like she was in a movie and a type of movie that she doesn’t like to watch. 

It took a full week to get the results. She was quite sure what the results would be, and she was correct. Her doctor immediately sent her to urgent care to get a chest x-ray. On top of the positive COVID-19 results she was also diagnosed with walking pneumonia in one lung. This is something she unknowingly probably had for a couple months. She thinks because her immune system was weakened by the pneumonia the COVID-19 virus hit her especially hard. 

Ms. Susan has been dealing with this for over two weeks now. She is still not herself, but she believes the worst is behind her. Antibiotics are helping, along with a lot of rest and fluids. Her temperature is still elevated as her body fights this and she has a lot of fatigue and some shortness of breath. 

When people are dying from something that you also have, the natural reaction is fear. Susan says, “I am trying very hard to stay informed on what is happening in the world without being overwhelmed, it’s a tricky dance.” As for her family, her son and his girlfriend are back to normal except the sense of taste and smell are still diminished. Her husband has not shown any symptoms. 

Fourteen years ago Susan broke her C1, which could have resulted in death or paralysis. Since that time she has tried to live a life of love and gratitude. This illness has reignited that fire and she knows she has been given another chance at life. 

Ms. Susan is so thankful and considers it a gift to be a part of this amazing community. So many people have shared their gratitude and positivity with her in the past two weeks. Her teacher colleagues are standing by her with encouragement and she is so impressed with how hard the NES staff is working to bring online learning to the students. She says, “What an opportunity to just stop and breathe, plant some seeds, pick up an instrument, tell a story, read a book together, listen to music, try a yoga class online, watch the sunset, embrace each other and embrace this moment.”

Ms. Susan, we are grateful for you and the talents you share with us. We hope to see you healthy and strong and back at NES when this is all over. Thank you for sharing your story. 

(Originally published in the April 2, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)