High school sweethearts die 4 days apart of COVID-19 – CBC

Joan and Brian Emmerson leave behind a large family who must now grieve apart

Apr 26, 2021

In the last moments before being intubated, Joan Emmerson knew what she had to do: call her kids.

“We actually said, ‘We are not ready, and we will talk to you again in five days,'” her daughter Kathy Emmerson said. “That’s what we told her, and that’s what we were hoping for.”

Joan Emmerson, 72, died April 10 in the intensive care unit of the Queensway Carleton Hospital. Four days later, her husband Brian Emmerson, 73, also succumbed to COVID-19.

Now, the people the Kanata couple left behind are speaking out to warn others about how quickly the virus can take hold and devastate an entire family.

“They were scheduled for their vaccination on the 9th of April. Had they had it say three or four weeks before that, none of this would likely have happened,” said Stephen Clements, their son-in-law.

Read more: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/family-grieving-couple-died-covid19-4-days-apart-1.6000086