TORONTO -- Hannah Kim鈥檚 Instagram profile is like that of most young adults -- a sporadic record of life as a teenager, then a college student -- snapshots of memories and selfies with friends.
Her was on March 18: 鈥渏ust zoomin鈥!!!!!!!!!!!!!鈥 she wrote. It was a banal marker of how life had changed under the pandemic - everyone was on Zoom or Google Meet.
Her second Instagram post of the year came two months later, accompanied by a series of old family photos: 鈥淎 month ago, we were a normal family..happy that this quarantine could all give us a little break. Now, it鈥檚 just my brother and I at home and I鈥檓 dreading it so much. I鈥檓 breaking down every single day.鈥
She warned her followers to take the virus seriously, to stay home, to wear a mask. And posted: 鈥淗ug your family a little tighter tonight. I seriously wish I could.鈥
Hannah is a graphic designer and California State University Los Angeles student who lived with her parents and teenage brother Joseph in a two-bedroom apartment in Koreatown in LA. In mid-April, her family moved their grandmother out of her nursing home and into their home in hopes of shielding her from COVID-19. The virus had, by then, already left a devastating mark among the elderly in Italy and elsewhere, and was sweeping through long-term care residences in Canada.
鈥淚 guess you could say it鈥檚 bittersweet. It鈥檚 nice to have my family all together in one space, but at the same time I feel sad,鈥 she wrote in a documenting her family鈥檚 quarantine life during the pandemic for a community journalism project on intergenerational storytelling, 鈥.鈥
Caring for her grandmother, who had dementia, could no longer walk, speak or go to the washroom independently, was challenging for the family she wrote at the time. It was April and the family had made the difficult decision to also close their father鈥檚 acupuncture clinic. He was approaching 70 and they thought it would be too risky for him as well as the family to stay open, even though he was the family鈥檚 source of income.
鈥淪ince the quarantine, we鈥檝e been filling out more and more financial applications as the bills keep coming in. On top of this, our new landlord is planning on demolishing our four-unit apartment,鈥 she wrote in mid-April.
鈥淲e have no choice but to accept the cards that are being dealt to us.鈥 story in June, the developers were planning to evict residents in August and had refused to change their plans despite the Kim family鈥檚 situation.
Over the course of the next three weeks, things took a devastating turn for the worse. Her grandmother had passed away, the entire family had tested positive for COVID-19 and both parents were in the hospital.
Everything changed on her birthday in late April, she documented. Her grandmother had been fighting a fever, so they called 911, worried she would die if they didn鈥檛, worried they would never see her again if they did. She was hospitalized, put on a ventilator and tested positive for the virus the following day.
Meanwhile, her father had also been feeling under the weather. Hannah woke up one morning just after her grandmother was hospitalized, hearing sirens approaching. Her father had called the ambulance for himself, she wrote.
Her mother too began feeling sick and having trouble breathing that same day. She took her mother to the ER and waited hours only to be sent home because no beds were available, she said in her essay. At home, her mother was vomiting and coughing up blood, so they went back to the hospital the next day, where she was eventually admitted.
The worries were piling up - about her parents, the bills, the dreaded hospital calls. Hannah was also wrapping up her final year of school.
鈥淚鈥檓 scared of what news the hospital will tell me the next day. I鈥檓 terrified, but I still have to listen,鈥 she wrote on May 11, the day after Mother鈥檚 Day. That day, her mother鈥檚 breathing worsened and she was moved into intensive care. Her grandmother had died a week after she was admitted at the age of 85, , and her father, who had a pre-existing condition, was on a ventilator in critical condition.
鈥淏eing home has been hell. I can鈥檛 do anything. I have no power. All I can do is pray,鈥 she wrote.
Her father died on May 21. He was 68.
by Hannah鈥檚 internship mentor and supervisor in late May to help support the family.
Her mother was moved out of intensive care about a week later. Hannah and Joe prepared for her homecoming. Though both siblings also tested positive, the main symptom they experienced was losing their sense of smell, according to an editor鈥檚 note on KQED, a public media member of NPR and PBS that .
At the beginning of June, Hannah shared that her mother finally tested negative for the virus and was recovering. She was regaining her strength, eating more, breathing much better. Hannah was able to visit daily and care for her mom, whom she described as strong -- 60 going on 40, with no pre-existing health issues. Still, she worried.
鈥淎lthough she is healing, bringing her home will be another thing of its own. I don鈥檛 know how she will grieve and take in the place where we once all spent time together,鈥 she wrote in a GoFundMe update.
A week later, another update: her mother was moved back to the ICU -- her blood pressure and oxygen levels had dropped and she was put on a ventilator. Doctors told the family that her mother鈥檚 lungs were too scarred and hardened by the virus. She needed a lung transplant.
Hannah and Joe expressed gratitude for the enormous public support that they said helped precipitate their mother鈥檚 transfer to USC Keck hospital in mid-June, where she could be evaluated as a potential transplant candidate. But doctors informed the family that their mother would not survive the surgery.
On Hannah鈥檚 last Instagram post on July 18th, there is a collage of family photos: of a smiling little girl and her baby brother, of a mother and daughter, a son and his parents celebrating a birthday. Her mother died four days earlier.
鈥淭he ventilator was her life support and her body couldn鈥檛 keep up.鈥
