The Gaffney Ledger’s One Year Later Feature

Tricia Blackwood, Staff Writer
April 5, 2021

The Gaffney Ledger recently had an edition in their paper on Covid-19, a year later. Entitled “One Year Later”, The Gaffney Ledger opened up the opportunity to write about their experiences with Covid-19 a year later. This was a chance for people of Gaffney who have experienced Covid-19 to share their stories, and be published into the Gaffney Ledger.

Writer, Abbie Sossamon, received many stories from the people of Gaffney. She opened the “One Year Later” feature by speaking about how Covid-19 started, and providing informational text about how it spread, and ways to prevent the spread. Sossamon chose 3 stories to share, subtitled “Local Residents Share Their Stories”, stories from Gigi Hamrick, Sharon Thompson, and Tammie Blackwood were published. Thompson and Blackwood being both extremely heartbreaking stories.

My mother, Tammie Blackwood, wrote her story on her husband (my father), and her father (my grandpa). The feature about my family states,

 

“In October, the coronavirus struck the Blackwood household.

Tammie was hospitalized Oct. 31 with COVID-19 pneumonia while her daughter and husband, Michael, fought the virus at home.

On Nov. 4, Tammie was discharged from the hospital and Michael was admitted due to difficulty breathing. He was moved to the critical care unit and placed on a bi-pap machine within four hours of arrival.

Seven days later, on Nov. 11, Michael was placed on a ventilator before being transferred to Duke University Medical Hospital and placed on an EKMO machine. He was given a 60% chance of survival.

“I told them to do whatever it took to save my husband,”

Tammie recalled.

Tammie was not allowed to see her husband until Nov. 25 when she learned his heart had been affected due to the virus. Three days later, she made the difficult decision to take Michael off all machines keeping him alive.

“When he was put on the ventilator, his last text told me it would be okay because he knew where he was going,” she said. “On November 28, I watched the love of my life take his last breath on Earth.”

The heartache didn’t end there for Blackwood. She lost her father Feb. 16 to COVID-19.”

The Gaffney Ledger helped many people be able to share their stories and open up about their experiences with Covid-19. From someone whose family made it into one of the three stories to be published, thank you. Thank for sharing our story, and for giving so many people the opportunity to share.