I have been thinking how best to write about my thoughts but it seems the topic is still very divisive and I will never be 100% satisfied with my work. So any comments, I am very happy to hear them.

Let me tell you a story.

I first heard about Wuhan end of November, 2019. I listened to the New York Times podcast, The Daily. They talked about some mysterious flu and the Chinese building a massive hospital. Fast forward to Christmas, we went to Prague to celebrate with family. New Years, I had my regular MRI scan (in Prague). It showed the tumour further increasing in size and I was warn of a hydrocephalus forming.

I decided to take some action. However, in order to go through the radiotherapy in Oxford, they had to perform the biopsy. That was the first half of February. After the procedure, mum took a flight to London to see me. People began to mention some covid. Then March arrived and we queued and couldn’t get toilet paper. (Btw, are people in these circumstances scared of sh*tting themselves to death?)

End of April 2020, I was supposed to start seven weeks of intensive radiotherapy. Having this kind of a treatment is one thing. But going to an empty hospital, being asked every single day if I suffer from any symptoms, not being able to have a chat or a cup of tea with fellow patients is a whole another thing. So for seven and a half weeks, my days consisted of: getting an ambulance to the hospital, having my treatment, going back home. No chance of socialising or distraction.

In order to “staying safe”, we created one of the most inhumane episodes of our recent history. We canceled vital surgeries, banned people from going to a funeral of their loved one, visiting grandma in a hospice or witnessing a birth of their first child. For what? How many cancer diagnosis were missed? How many people were too scared to go to a hospital and have a lump checked? I don’t know those numbers yet and wonder if these will ever appear.

I always try to see the positive. So even with something like covid, it brought some good. I just wish that in our society which strives for peace and understanding, we tried to comprehend other peoples’ perspectives and/or experiences and importantly the consequences of our actions. There is nothing worse than dying in a clean hospital without family or friends.