Serving as a wake-up call

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This article was published 06/04/2020 (2155 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Wade Kidd was a private man, but his death has become a matter of public record in the province’s fight against COVID-19.

Kidd died April 2, a month before his 55th birthday. He is Manitoba’s second coronavirus fatality.

His family issued a statement Monday afternoon to share their memories of him and also to help address some of the public’s uncertainty surrounding the pandemic.

“We cannot begin to express the shock and loss that we are experiencing,” his wife Pam and children wrote in the statement.

“We wish that we could mourn him privately, as he was a private person, but we also understand that there is fear and uncertainty surrounding the disease that took Wade from us. To that end, we know information helps stop panic.”

Provincial health officials have previously said Kidd, a custodian at Windsor Park Collegiate, began experiencing symptoms at work on March 18, five days before the province ordered schools to close. He was told go to home and contact Manitoba Health Links.

According to the family’s statement, Kidd  began self-isolating immediately. By March 27, his family knew he needed medical attention, and he was hospitalized where he “quickly deteriorated.”

His family says while he did have “some underlying health conditions,” he was healthy and active overall, which was part of why they chose to speak publicly about his death.

“This disease can affect anyone, and we hope Wade’s death can help convince anyone who isn’t already staying home to do so if they can,” the statement reads.

As of Monday, there have been 204 positive or probable cases reported in Manitoba, with 11 people in hospital and seven in intensive care.

Kidd’s family will not be able to have a funeral and have struggled with being unable to be physically close to family and friends during this time, saying they “can’t start looking for a new normal” during the pandemic.

While the family hopes the public will take the loss of their husband, father and grandfather as an urgent message to do what needs to be done to curb the virus’s spread, they also said they want to remember him as the person he was before it: a kind, easygoing, humble man.

“Wade should be remembered for the amazing man he was, not for how he died,” Kidd’s family said.

Memories of him include time spent with his family camping, barbecuing and helping loved ones.

“He was a steady ship in a crazy storm, and now he is gone,” his family said.

“Now that storm threatens to swallow us whole. We are just keeping our heads above water.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: malakabas_