Great grandmother Emma Kotsakis mourned after falling ill with coronavirus at Glendale Aged Care
The son of a great grandmother who died of coronavirus shortly after her 93rd birthday is “lost for words”, saying he’d hoped she would be spared from the illness which has torn through aged care.
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A great grandmother diagnosed with coronavirus just days after her 93rd birthday has lost her battle with the illness as family honoured a “strong” lady who raised her children alone.
Emma Kotsakis, a resident at Glendale Aged Care in Werribee which has been linked to more than 80 corona cases, died on Wednesday last week.
She was diagnosed with COVID-19 about a week earlier.
Son George Kotsakis, who last spoke with his mum on a video call for her birthday on July 23, told the Herald Sun: “I am lost for words.”
“We were jovial and hoping that she remained negative,’’ Mr Kotsakis said.
“Then in the last days of July the hope had been dashed.
“You do not want them to suffer.
“You want them to enjoy the remaining years of their life but it just so happens this came about.”
Mrs Kotsakis, a grandmother to five children and great grandmother of four, was born in the Philippines and moved to Australia more than a decade ago.
She married in 1950 and had three sons and a daughter, who died less than a year after birth.
Mrs Kotsakis raised her three sons alone after husband George, an Australian who served in World War II, died in 1958.
“She had to be strong because she had to care for three children,’’ Mr Kotsakis said.
“In the Philippines up until now there is no welfare so you rely on your relatives and your ingenuity.
“She was 93 and she had a full life. And she has a big, big family back home.”
Mrs Kotsakis, who had dementia, initially showed no major symptoms of coronavirus but family feared a pre-existing cough may make her more susceptible to the illness.
She twice tested negative to coronavirus before her positive result.
Mr Kotsakis said he hoped sharing his family’s ordeal would help the broader community comprehend the seriousness of coronavirus, especially in protecting the elderly in nursing homes.
“It’s one way for people to understand what they’re facing now,’’ he said.
“Those people who have lost their loved ones through COVID and those who have recovered should come out and tell everyone that you don’t want to suffer this way.
“Once you suffer, once you get this COVID, half your life is on the ground already.”
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