'It's What We Do': Stories Of Triumph Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

CONNECTICUT — In late March 2020, Ann Lubeski was set to retire after four decades of nursing at Yale-New Haven Hospital's Saint Raphael campus. She and her husband of 39 years had many plans for retirement including watching the sunset from a mountaintop.

The Nightingale Award-winning RN from Branford had given her all to the many cardiac patients she’d worked with over many years. But that former cardiac floor had become a COVID-19 case floor. She could not walk away. Her family worried but she made a decision to remain at her post and would spend the next several months caring for the sick, and the dying, the latter frightened and largely alone save for her and other health care workers.

"She told us, 'It's my job. It's what we do,’” her husband Mark Lubeski told Patch at the time. “That ought to be a slogan for all first responders.”

Read Ann's story here.

Hers is one of countless poignant and heartrending stories of the past year as the coronavirus pandemic hijacked life as we knew it leaving far too many to grieve.

But there was light and heroes emerged, from the grocery check-out lane to the ICU, in churches and schools, food pantries and nursing homes.

In Fairfield, fighting cancer in a pandemic

Sarah McWilliams and her husband, Greg, had recently moved to Fairfield with their toddler twin. Just a few weeks later, she was diagnosed with Stage 3C invasive lobular carcinoma breast cancer. Two months after that diagnosis, the pandemic struck Fairfield County.

"We just have to stay as positive as we can,"the 40-year-old mother told Patch in December. Upbeat then, she admitted that "cancer in a pandemic is probably as low as you can get."

In a post to Facebook last month, she was again upbeat, sharing some good news.

Sarah’s story was both an inspiration and a testament to one woman’s will to survive during the worst of times, flipping that axiom on its head.

In Vernon, taking the vaccine to church

When First Congregational Church of Vernon pastor Rev. Robin Bird got a text from Vernon Police Department Lt. Meier asking if the church would house a vaccine clinic, Bird tested back: “Yes, please, of course.”

Part of Vernon's effort to bring the vaccine to the community, the clinic at First Congregational was the third house of worship to hold such clinics including a regional mosque in Ellington and a Vernon Catholic church. Hundreds got their shots at First Congregational, where the majority of the congregation is at least 65 years old.

Congregant Judith Johnston of South Windsor was one of those vaccinated inside her church. She told Patch that she’d been “very careful about the virus, but I'm also glad to get the shot."

With 14 grandchildren and a great-grandchild, she was "devastated" that she could not hold them. "It breaks my heart," she told Patch. "At Christmas, members of the family came by but had to stand outside." For her, being vaccinated is the right thing to do, adding: "It's our duty to stay healthy.”

From East Haven, how a hard-hit nursing home got through its darkest time

Twenty-five died, but the vast majority recovered, including staff at Whispering Pines Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. For weeks — through the worst of the coronavirus pandemic — Whispering Pines was the unfortunate archetype for how COVID-19 was sweeping through nursing homes and claiming lives.

"We paid a terrible price," facility director of nursing Chris Regan told a reporter when Patch visited the 90-bed facility in June. "We've had so much loss."

When the virus struck Whispering Pines at the end of March, there were 85 residents; 25 died by the end of the worst of the outbreak. Of those residents who tested positive, 44 recovered.

"When our residents passed away, we all cried; families, and us, because we are family, too," Regan said.

On one day, more than one resident died. Regan said the loss was devastating and "painful."

"We're on the other side of it now, but it was a terrible, heartbreaking experience for residents and their families and, of course, the rest of all of us as well," she said.

One of the staff members who was infected with coronavirus spent 130 days hospitalized, near death at least once.

"Just let me go," John Ormond told his daughter, Whispering Pines’ assistant nursing director, on the phone.

Ormond would fight for his life for months and win that battle. Read more about Ormond and his return to Whispering Pines here.

From Windsor Locks, photographer Melanie Oliveira shared her story, her victorious battle to beat COVID-19.

Oliveira’s daughter, who works in an assisted living facility, tested positive. And while she became ill, her symptoms, thankfully, were akin to mild flu. But soon, Oliveria would also test positive.

Oliveira’s diary of her bout with the disease shared with Patch, is at once inspiring, and helpful as she shared what many might find useful information about how COVID-19 presented itself and how best to manage the illness, that is until a hospitalization was needed.

Oliveira was admitted after being diagnosed with acute respiratory failure and pneumonia as a result of the COVID-19 infection.

“Worst day of my hospital stay yet, breathing was definitely labored, exhausted and I felt just lousy, lousy, lousy. I heard my nurse Julian singing like an angel in the hallway, when she came in and we chatted as I did every morning, usually with a different nurse. I started to cry that morning pretty hysterically and told her how terrible I felt, that I just wanted to get better and go home, that it was my daughter's 21st birthday today and I was missing it. How her singing was beautiful and made me happy to hear and sounded familiar. I asked if she sang in church and we determined through our conversation that we were both Catholic. She was a very supportive, calming force that morning. She sang to me and we prayed together that morning as I literally bawled my eyes out. She held my hand so tight and she cared so very much I could feel it in my soul.”

In Stamford, a business fights for its life, and wins

Jane Agostino “was never going to throw in the towel.” The owner of the historic Lakeside Diner said, “We were going to take whatever came” their way. That that they did.

But in the early days, there was fear and shock. Agostino told Patch a year ago that the day she realized she’d have to shutter her business, it was St. Patricks’ Day, the reality of the “nightmare” set in. "Emotions were riding so high, and I had a lot of sleepless nights...it was very, very emotional."

But through sheer determination and the strength of her resolve, Lakeside Diner is thriving.

In Norwalk, a college student, whose internship was cut short, decided to volunteer and help the most vulnerable.

Wilton resident James Mannix, a senior at Providence College, lost his banking internship to the pandemic and without skipping a beat, decided to volunteer at Norwalk’s Family & Children's Agencywhere he worked with 15 senior citizen clients navigate the new pandemic normal, from helping with appointments, shopping, checking in by phone and even to helping a woman find a freezer.

In Branford, a family was left homeless after a tornado leveled their home ...in a pandemic.

And as if the pandemic wasn’t enough, wild summer and early autumn weather, including tornadoes, added insult to injury. Yet, the stories of survival against the worst of odds persisted.

The Moriarty family’s home was destroyed by a tornado in early September, and it was nearly impossible to find housing that would accommodate 13-year-old Christy, who has spina bifida. But with the help of planning and zoning officials from two towns, the Moriarty house and property sits in both Branford and North Branford, a handicap-outfitted trailer would be brought in while the family figures out how to re-build.

“We're all OK. Safe and healthy. That's the most important part," Becky Moriarty told Patch then. Though she acknowledged that the complete destruction of their home — occurring during the coronavirus pandemic — was "a lot to take."

Still, they have made it.

See also: From 'Party Zero' To 7.6K Deaths & New Hope: Coronavirus Timeline

• A Year Into Pandemic, CT Businesses Still Riding Roller Coaster
• 285K Cases, Vaccinations & More: CT Coronavirus By The Numbers

There are many such stories, not all told. Please share your pandemic year story in the comments section.