I went to a family funeral in lockdown - and it was the most uplifting thing I ve done for months
Funerals are very different thanks to Covid, but as our writer found, that doesn t make them any less meaningful
18 January 2021 • 12:00pm
Funerals remain one of the only occasions during which people from different households or support bubbles can come together
Credit: Karwai Tang/WireImage
Chances are, if you happen to see someone making a long trip across the country these days, they’re going to a funeral. As it stands, funerals and events related to a death remain one of the few occasions we’re allowed to travel long distances, stay overnight, or spend any time in close proximity with anyone outside of our households and support bubbles.
With a loved one in a care home, this difficult time almost unbearable, finds Paddy Magrane
17 January 2021 • 6:00am The virus tore through
care homes. For staff
who’ve lost residents,
it’s been devastating : Joy Body with her mum Christina on the seafront at Felixstowe, Suffolk. Joy s mother-in-law, Maureen, is a resident in a care home
Credit: Andrew Crowley
Joy Body, 53, lives in Felixstowe, Suffolk with her husband and adult daughter, for whom she cares. She also looks after her mother, Christina, 77, who for years has suffered with ME and fibromyalgia, conditions that cause her acute pain and prevent her from walking.
I’m 28 and my cancer is incurable but I’m making the most of every moment
In March 2020, exactly as Covid-19 was erupting, Mikki Phipps, a professional development coordinator, was told her cancer was incurable
Mikki receiving treatment at the East Surrey Hospital
Credit: Courtesy of Mikki Phillips
On 9 March, I was told my breast cancer had come back, and spread to my lungs. I remember sitting in that little room in the East Surrey Hospital with my husband Tom, completely unable to process it. I’d had a gut feeling that things weren’t right, but nothing can prepare you for something like this. ‘So it’s incurable?’ I asked the doctor. ‘Yes,’ she replied.