My brother died, and then it got worse ...

• Author: Megan BanksDon’t miss Adam Green and Megan Bank on The Hits Hawke’s Bay from 6am to 9am, Monday to Friday
• Published date: 28 September 2022
• Publication title: Hastings Leader, The

Johnny had been admitted to Christchurch Hospital a couple of days earlier with what they thought was an infection in his chest lines. Johnny was on dialysis treatment and lines in his chest was how the dialysis was administered

We had been texting the night before and he was in good spirits and complaining about the food ,which is why we thought it wasn’t too serious.

Very sadly though, he didn’t make it through the night. Johnny lived down in Geraldine with his wife and three young children, so it’s been absolutely devastating for everyone. While the thought terrified me, I volunteered to take his service. Then a couple of days before we were due to fly out, I started to feel very unwell myself. Horrible fever and aches and pains. A body so sore even wearing a bra hurt! So I tested for COVID and finally after all of these months, I got a positive result, which explained it all.

That of course meant I wasn’t able to farewell my brother.

I can now finally appreciate what so...