Thread by @isaacfoundation, A Plea For Help - A Long But Important Thread

A Plea For Help - A Long But Important Thread - Navigating COVID-19 With A Vulnerable Child

See that sweet boy in the photo - that’s Isaac. But he could be any of our beautiful children fighting a rare disease, and Ellen and I could be any of our parents sick with worry.

First off, he’s going to be OK.

But he’s running a temperature of over 40 right now (104), and we’re working hard to bring it under control. He’s run down, and has severely swollen glands too. Chances are this isn’t COVID, though he’s been tested just to be sure.

But here’s the thing - it doesn’t matter if it’s COVID-19 or not - it shouldn’t be anything.

If you know our family, you also know we’ve been following the rules to the extreme. We rarely leave our house except for groceries and essentials.

Our circle is small - just us and Ellen’s parents, who live beside us. We don’t see anyone almost ever, and the visitor we recently had sat 15 feet from us outside for a short hour or two.

We wear masks religiously, and began long before it was mandated or even suggested for widespread use. We wash our hands like crazy, and are those people who have hand sanitizer everywhere. Isaac doesn’t go to school.

He leaves the house only once every two weeks, and this is to travel to The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto to receive his life-sustaining treatment, and he goes from our door, to the safe floor at Sick Kids and then back home again - no stops, no visits along the way.

He’s still in lock down mode, and will remain there until things settle down and it’s safe for him to be out and about again. In short, we truly are doing everything we can because if Isaac gets sick with COVID, there is a potential he will suffer greatly.

Isaac’s been a fighter all his life, and most of you follow this account because you love him dearly. You’ve pulled for him since his diagnosis. You’ve donated to help us find a cure for him.

You’ve sent your messages of Hope and prayer, you’ve followed our ups and downs, you’ve been with us at our most vulnerable times and during our most hopeful moments.

You’ve been here for him, and for all the other vulnerable kids we’ve been working to help who are fighting their own battles around the world. Battles that are hard enough without having to also deal with COVID-19.

So you see, when I say it doesn’t matter whether it’s COVID-19 or not, and that it shouldn’t be anything, I mean it. How on earth can he come down with anything - at all - with all of the precautions we have put in place to protect him?

The answer to this is simple - everything we’re doing to protect him and keep him safe doesn’t really matter if YOU don’t also do your part. And yes, that means all of you. ALL. OF. YOU. Every single one of you out there, including those of you who refuse to wear a mask.

Everything we’re doing doesn’t really matter if you refuse to follow the rules, if you jump from bubble to bubble to bubble, if you’re going out for drinks and partying with your friends. None of this matters if you don’t all start to think of others’ needs over your own.

None of this matters if you argue with the science. Come at me with your stories about masks and their effectiveness, and your “rights” and your “freedoms”.

Come at me with that craziness and I’ll spend time with you presenting the science, the truth, and the facts that we know because of careful study by experts who are simply being experts.

None of this stuff is political - it’s not Liberal or Conservative, Lefty or Righty, Democrat or Republican. It’s science. It’s facts. And science will always win out over rhetoric in the end. Unfortunately, some of you will have to learn that the hard way.

I know some of you are swayed by what you see others posting on Facebook and Twitter.

Some of you are posting and reposting the lies and completely unscientific ramblings of lunatics like Randy Hillier, an elected official who is supposed to be looking out for the public good - for you.

The things that people like that are saying aren’t true - they aren’t grounded in evidence. If you don’t believe me, hit up Randy and tell him I’m happy to debate him on this issue any time. Publicly.

He can bring one of his science denying friends along, and I’ll bring along one of my many expert colleagues and we can have at it. But science will win out in the end. It will because it always does.

But back to Isaac for a moment.

How are we in a position that we’re worried about my son? It could be the guy at the store last week that almost ran into me turning the corner of the aisle - mask-less and angry. I kindly asked him to put his mask on. You know, the one he was carrying in his hand.

He angrily responded by yelling and screaming at me about his rights, and swearing and causing a scene.

I responded by telling him that his choice not to wear a mask could very well get me infected with something, which I in turn could take home to my very vulnerable son, who could very well have a very difficult time with whatever it was he was infected with.

Or it could be that my other son, who wears his mask religiously but is doing in-person schooling, brought something home from one of his school mates, not all of whom wear their masks, or wear them properly.

His classmates are gathering with each other all the time outside of school and breaking all the rules regularly.

I’ve already had to talk with the school about the large gatherings of kids huddled outside, chatting and visiting and smoking, many without masks and many bunched closed together. It could have come home that way.

Or maybe it was you - exercising your “right” to do whatever you want with your life, because you saw Randy post something about masks not working or that the law about masks wasn’t really a law at all, and the government can’t make you do things just because they are…

…government.

I recognize that it’s not only our kids at risk that are suffering through this all. It’s our vulnerable seniors. It’s our parents and grandparents. It’s families across the globe who can’t visit their loved ones.

It’s those trapped in long-term care homes, alone and afraid. But we can stop all of this if we simply work together and listen to the experts over the lunatics. We can get back to normal sooner if we all simply find it in ourselves to care a little bit more, and to act.

It’s not a hardship to wear a mask - it’s easy. Put it on, and put it on properly. Do it grudgingly, I don’t care. Just do it.

And if you don’t have it in yourself to be a little selfless here, then click the unfollow button at the top of this page, and click the “unfriend” button on my personal page. Because this matters - a lot.

Our kids and our families have sacrificed so much already, and it’s my job to help look for solutions for these vulnerable kids in need.

If you’re one of the people not wanting to follow the rules, then you’re not part of that solution - you’re part of the problem - no matter how much you tell us you love our kids or not.

Whatever it was, however this happened, however Isaac was put in this position, I’m pleading with you. Please, PLEASE, if you’re here because you’ve followed our journey and you love our son, please take a close look at your behaviour and help us out here.

Please follow the rules as posted. Please wear a mask in public. Please stop your visiting and partying and bubble bursting. Whether you agree with any of the rules or not, please simply follow them.

If not for you, then for Isaac and all the other children and vulnerable people out there sacrificing so much to simply stay alive.

@NightShiftMD, @BogochIsaac - if people decide rule following isn’t important, please direct them to this thread. It matters. And @randyhillier - my offer above to debate the importance of all of this stands - I’m here and ready.

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