Gary Burgess: Meeting the widow of the youngest in Jersey to die with Covid
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“This is just such a waste. What an incredible waste.”
The words Emily Bartleman spoke to me about her husband, who died on the Saturday before Christmas, are still playing in my mind.
That she summoned the strength to share with me an insight into Giles, who was just 50-years-old when he died, is one thing. That she wanted to use this moment to also remind others about the seriousness of Covid for some people is quite another.
Giles had a high-flying accountancy job which he gave up to pursue his calling to ministry, spending tens of thousands of pounds of his savings to fund his religious education before becoming chaplain at St Mark’s Church in St Helier.
He leaves behind his wife Emily, and his son Samuel, who is just seven-years-old.
As Emily told me: “This is just such a waste. What an incredible waste. This man had so much to give people. He was quite a remarkable human being really.”
And from spending time with Emily, from being allowed to watch and share some personal home videos, it’s evident Giles was a very special person.
He died in intensive care at Jersey’s General Hospital after initially rallying from his symptoms before a final fatal decline. He was the youngest in the island to die with Covid.
Giles had a compromised immune system after being diagnosed with an successfully treated for a type of leukaemia around fifteen years ago. It meant he and Emily knew catching Covid could be serious. But this was the most devastating outcome of all.
“He was a very kind person. He was also a lot of fun to be around. He had a good sense of humour. He also had a dodgy sense of humour. He had a quite serious side to him. He was very bright, very intelligent, and just a incredibly nice person really.”
It’s so easy to see “a Covid death” as a statistic.
By sharing her story, Emily has allowed us all the privilege of seeing the multi-faceted and much-loved person that Giles was, and a reminder that each of the 69 people to have died with Covid in Jersey are not statistics… they’re husbands, wives, brothers, sisters, sons, daughters, dads and mothers.
One year on from the arrival of this pandemic to the Channel Islands seems a good time for us all to be reminded of that reality.