Sunday night into Monday morning, my mother passed on, and Hawkeye wrestling lost a very loyal fan. She never had much money, so she wasn't a high-profile contributor, but she was as loyal as any fan ever.
I had been to some meets in the '70s, but my mom went to her first meet in 1980 (pretty sure it was Iowa State), and was immediately hooked. We went to several meets over the next year or two and bought season tickets the year after CHA opened. My mom turned 94 this February and had only missed three or four home meets since CHA opened. She became a wrestling fan when I wrestled and loved the sport as much as anyone. She was an avid sports fan in general, she would watch sports on TV most of the time; baseball, football, basketball, tennis, golf, just about anything, but loved Hawkeye wrestling more than anything. She had attended around 30 NCAA tournaments and well over 20 B1G and Midlands tournaments each. We made lots of friends through wrestling and became friends with several Hawkeye wrestler's families over the years.
In spite of our best efforts at isolation for her, she and myself and my little sister Wendy (also a big Hawk wrestling fan) all got Covid-19 within a few days of one another back in early April. I am an at-risk person because of my rheumatoid arthritis and the meds I take for it. Wendy is down-syndrome and has some heart issues, so she was somewhat high-risk, and mom being 94 was definitely high-risk. I spent five days with a fever of over 103 and all the other symptoms. I wished a couple of those days that I would die. Wendy had some bad days, but none as bad as mine. Mom seemed to be doing better than both, but after a day and a half of not enough fluid intake, we sent her to the ER in hopes of getting an IV to rehydrate. In spite of having no signs of breathing difficulty, they admitted her for pneumonia. When our hospital was willing to let her die in a few days, we talked her into trying the ventilator to buy a little healing time, because that was the only real option we were given. She got most of the treatments we asked/hoped for, and actually beat the Covid, but suffered a stroke in the hospital shortly after coming off the vent that went undetected for several days. They said at her age and her condition there was no hope for a life she'd be happy with, so they suggested hospice. We chose to bring her home where family could be with her for hospice care. We were blessed to have one really good day with her, where she did things the hospital said she couldn't do, but then lapsed into an almost unresponsive state the next day, but she passed surrounded by family.
I'm sorry this got so long, and some of it should probably have been on the Covid thread, but I wanted to share the loss of a great HW fan.
I had been to some meets in the '70s, but my mom went to her first meet in 1980 (pretty sure it was Iowa State), and was immediately hooked. We went to several meets over the next year or two and bought season tickets the year after CHA opened. My mom turned 94 this February and had only missed three or four home meets since CHA opened. She became a wrestling fan when I wrestled and loved the sport as much as anyone. She was an avid sports fan in general, she would watch sports on TV most of the time; baseball, football, basketball, tennis, golf, just about anything, but loved Hawkeye wrestling more than anything. She had attended around 30 NCAA tournaments and well over 20 B1G and Midlands tournaments each. We made lots of friends through wrestling and became friends with several Hawkeye wrestler's families over the years.
In spite of our best efforts at isolation for her, she and myself and my little sister Wendy (also a big Hawk wrestling fan) all got Covid-19 within a few days of one another back in early April. I am an at-risk person because of my rheumatoid arthritis and the meds I take for it. Wendy is down-syndrome and has some heart issues, so she was somewhat high-risk, and mom being 94 was definitely high-risk. I spent five days with a fever of over 103 and all the other symptoms. I wished a couple of those days that I would die. Wendy had some bad days, but none as bad as mine. Mom seemed to be doing better than both, but after a day and a half of not enough fluid intake, we sent her to the ER in hopes of getting an IV to rehydrate. In spite of having no signs of breathing difficulty, they admitted her for pneumonia. When our hospital was willing to let her die in a few days, we talked her into trying the ventilator to buy a little healing time, because that was the only real option we were given. She got most of the treatments we asked/hoped for, and actually beat the Covid, but suffered a stroke in the hospital shortly after coming off the vent that went undetected for several days. They said at her age and her condition there was no hope for a life she'd be happy with, so they suggested hospice. We chose to bring her home where family could be with her for hospice care. We were blessed to have one really good day with her, where she did things the hospital said she couldn't do, but then lapsed into an almost unresponsive state the next day, but she passed surrounded by family.
I'm sorry this got so long, and some of it should probably have been on the Covid thread, but I wanted to share the loss of a great HW fan.
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