If Natasha Graham from Newtownbutler gets coronavirus, she’s not going to survive it.

That’s what her worried mum told The Impartial Reporter when asked what her number one concern was for her daughter during this pandemic.

“Natasha is very vulnerable, she has severe complex needs to begin with.

“She got sepsis three years ago. She vomited and aspirated and she just took sepsis within 24 hours. They gave us no hope at that time but we fought through that,” said Geraldine Graham, adding that through fighting sepsis, Natasha lost her swallowing reflex.

“She needs gastric fed now. She has severe scoliosis and because of that her organs have kind of shifted so her stomach is now on the other side of her body, so we have a lot of problems getting the tube in. She would have a deviated nasal septum and she doesn’t close her mouth. She’s nil by mouth,” explained Geraldine.

Throughout her 26 years, Natasha has fought both the millennium flu and swine flu.

“She came through the millennium flu, I nursed her through that and then the swine flu, I almost lost her then, she had that 10 years ago in August and she was very ill with that and she fought that but her system isn’t as good now as what it was because from last October she has been going downhill, she’s picking up everything,”

“It’s just to try and keep her out of hospital,” she added.

Geraldine noted that her worry for her daughter contracting coronavirus now outweighs the worry that she felt when Natasha had swine flu: “The swine flu, yes it was scary but I wasn’t as worried about it, but this I’m really worried.”

“Natasha has a lot of problems and we’re just worried, we’re self-isolating ourselves but we’re just worried what is ahead of us as well as any other vulnerable children and young adults and old people.

“We are looking into the unknown,” she added.

To reduce the risk of Natasha contracting the virus, Geraldine has banned most people from entering their house.

“I have banned everyone coming into the house except the two carers, the nurse and the Marie Curie nurse, I’m not allowing anybody else in,” said Geraldine, adding: “I haven’t been out since we were at the hospital on Friday. We had to go to the hospital because Natasha’s tube got blocked.”

Noting that they were kept in the hospital quite a long time due to complications with Natasha’s tube, Geraldine shared: “My heart was in my mouth on Friday evening because when we were waiting there a consultant came in and said they wanted Natasha out as quickly as they could, they didn’t want to compromise her because there was a query that there was a case there and then when we came home we found out there was a case there, it’s just a scary experience.”

“I know the time’s going to come for Natasha but I don’t want this to take her,” Geraldine told this newspaper.