The drama of a family

''As you live now, under the threat of Coronavirus we have been living like this for 18 years''

Constantinos Kallimachos, a writer-educator, lives with his wife Antigoni Kokkinou Kallimachos and their daughter Maria-Fotini. Their daughter has a Dravet's syndrome and that makes her very sensitive to any illnesses, getting ill can kill her. Her parents have to be very careful to protect her, which deprives them of having a normal life and so they have a very difficult time.

''Dear friends, dear fellow citizens, As you live now, under the threat of the Coronavirus, and you take care to have your health, we have been doing this for 18 years! '' Says Constantinos.

What Antigone says:

A person may look and seem "fine," but that does not mean that his or her immune system is "fine". Our daughter, Maria-Fotini, almost lost her life two years ago from influenza B, pneumonia and septicemia, but more recently she almost lost her life from more common and mild diseases, such as gastrointestinal and gastroenteritis.

Our family has been living a very isolated lifestyle for almost 18 years.

We do nothing to expose our daughter to possible germs: we never do family gatherings, we never go to birthday parties or Christmas dinners.

We always avoid public places, except hospitals! We don't even send our daughter to school.

We disinfect our hands every minute of the hour.

When we get home after work, we immediately take a shower and change clothes. (Shoes are always left at the entrance.)

We also avoid hugging or kissing her if we meet sick people in our workplace.

We keep our home areas clean and as sterile as possible every day.

It is an inviolable rule in our home to go into isolation if Costas or I get sick, even with a simple cure.

Why? Because we know very well what even a simple cold can do to someone with Dravet's syndrome, such as Maria-Fotini. It can kill her. And this is no exaggeration at all!

With patience and optimism and above all with the best possible prevention, for days without unpleasant surprises in the face of Coronavirus...

And so this is the life of this family for 18 years..