Both of them made sure to get their vaccinations as soon as it was made available, because that's how worried they were about COVID.
Cal Dunham, 59, and his wife Linda, 66, did everything together. They loved themselves and everyone around them. “The love that they found together after a previous marriage is fantastic,” said daughter Sarah, according to Fox 17. “They were the people that you just looked at and you were like, ‘I want to be old like that, I want that love when I’m that age.’”
The Grand Rapids residents were extra cautious, ever since the pandemic and they both made sure to get vaccinated the first chance they could. But, when they went on a trip in September 2021, the two of them fell sick. “[My dad] called me before our family camping trip and said he wasn’t feeling good but he thinks it’s just like sinus, and [Linda] caught it and she’s like, he gave me his cold,” said Sarah.
“The third day they woke me up and said, ‘we’ve got to go because we don’t feel well.’ So I packed them all up and they left.”
Fully vaccinated couple, Cal and Linda Dunham die moments apart from 🇨🇳🦠holding hands.https://t.co/qGhANIltc6 pic.twitter.com/6XlceDm3Ow
— #FirstThem NEWS🇺🇸 (@FirstThemNEWS) September 28, 2021
In just a matter of days, the couple ended in the hospital, on ventilators. Things took a turn for the worse since both of them had preexisting health conditions. By September 26, 2021, doctors told Sarah there was nothing much they could do. They told the grieving daughter that they were prepping to take them both off life support the following day.
“They had other plans,” said Sarah. “It was Sunday and dad’s like, ‘you know what? This is what we’re going to do today.'"
Once they were taken off the ventilator, the two of them were wheeled into the same room. Cal passed away first, at 11:07 am, and in less than a minute, at 11:08 am, Linda passed away as well. The couple held hands while they passed, revealed Sarah.
/ @KashifMD sb (blah blah blah)
— Imran Iftikhar (@Hero_of_Univers) September 29, 2021
Married couple Linda and Cal Dunham died of coronavirus on Sunday, while holding hands, despite both being fully vaccinated.
The husband, 59 and wife, 66, from #GrandRapids, #Michigan, both got the disease earlier in September. pic.twitter.com/DUUdp3Dcci
“She always joked and said ‘well, you’re going to go before I am, I’ll be right there behind you, I promise.’ And she really was, like she really was right there behind him.” The only thing that's giving Sarah some kind of comfort amid her sorrow is the fact that her parents are together, even in death.
But now, she says she's feeling angry because people are not taking the virus that claimed both her parents in a matter of mere 60 seconds seriously enough. “I’m angry because so many people are like, ‘if I catch COVID, I catch COVID that’s what it is.’ No, it’s not,” said Sarah. “It could be any person; it could be anybody. They did everything right, they did everything to protocol the way it should be done.”
A GoFundMe has been set up in their name so that the family can give them the farewell they deserve.
References:
https://www.fox17online.com/news/coronavirus/grand-rapids-couple-dies-1-minute-apart-from-covid-19
https://www.gofundme.com/f/please-help-dawson-pay-his-medical-bills
Cover Image Source: GoFundMe | Funeral expenses for Cal and Linda ❤️
