Family spent 30 hours on the phone talking to dad before he died of Covid-19

A woman whose father died from Covid-19 related complications has shared details about the final hours of his life and how she and her family were on a 30-hour phone call with him because they were unable to visit him in hospital.

Forty-one-year-old Abby Adair Reinhard from Rochester, New York, shared the news about her father Don's death on Facebook.

Reinhard said the whole family spent two days on the phone with the 76-year-old as he remained unconscious in the hospital.

“My dad just died from Covid-19," Abby began the post.

Although the family was unable to be with him, Abby said, they were able to share memories and sing songs that their father used to play on his guitar at family campfires.

“Some of the lyrics seemed so fitting Milk and honey on the other side and He’s got the whole world in his hands. I paced back and forth in my bathroom, trying to contain my crying, as I tried to get the words out.”

Abby said she felt grateful to be connected on the phone with her siblings and “to bring the images of us from earlier years back to life".

After spending much time on the phone with their father, listening to him breathe, Abby said she and her three siblings decided to end the call and get some rest.

“I stayed muted on the line as I tucked in the kids and got ready for bed.

“I journalled and fell asleep around 11. None of us hung up the line, in case we wanted to reconnect at any point during the night, but we agreed to step away from our phones and get some sleep,” she said.

Just after midnight, Abby received the call that her father had died of “respiratory failure in the setting of aspiration and Covid-19".

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