7 siblings drive from 6 states to sit outside their 101-yr-old mother’s window who has COVID-19

Michelle May 7, 2020 3 Comments

I love this story. According to the Washington Post:

…when Jean O’Brien, the 101-year-old matriarch of the family, tested positive for covid-19 in April, seven of her children drove from across the country to camp outside her window at a Michigan nursing home. They sing and dance, tape love letters and notes to the glass, and mouth well wishes to her whenever she’s awake.

They journeyed from six states — Maryland, Washington, Nevada, Florida, New Jersey and North Carolina — to the Four Chaplains Nursing Care Center in Westland, near Detroit.

…the oldest sibling, Pat O’Brien, 72, who lives in Seattle. “I immediately got in the car and drove.” The youngest sibling, Megan O’Brien, 59, ventured from New Jersey. “If these were going to be mom’s final days, we all wanted to surround her,” she said.

Jean O’Brien is the backbone of her family — eight living children, 13 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

Fighting COVID-19 is tough, and although she’s had good days and bad days, Jean O’Brien’s condition has improved markedly since her children arrived. When they first got to the nursing home, their mother was despondent, refusing to eat or drink. Now she’s fever-free and starting to look and feel like herself again.

Read the full article here.

Photos of the family.

7 Siblings outside mother’s nursing home window

Jean O’Brien, 101, smiles at her children as they entertain her from outside her window at the Four Chaplains Nursing Care Center in Westland, Mich. (Family photo)

Jean O’Brien, laughing with nine of her 13 grandchildren in 1990. (Family photo)

Jean O’Brien and her husband Regis O’Brien in 1961 with their children when the family of 11 lived in a three-bedroom, one-bathroom home in Livonia, Mich. Children pictured are Tim, Pat, Joe, Nancy, Megan, Terrence, Ellen, Tom and Denise. (Family photo)