Mom’s Covid death adds further drive to twin matric achievers’ medical dreams

Many people warn you that grade eleven is the most important year of High School as it involves needing to achieve high marks to get into the degree of your choice. We were both determined to achieve the best marks that we possibly could, so that our goals of becoming a dentist and a doctor could later become a reality.

Covid-19 fatality

In the midst of the pandemic, COVID-19 took more than just our social life and face-to-face schooling from us. The doctors discovered blood clots in our mother’s lungs, among other things.

We always knew that COVID-19 would be a major risk to her health. She was confined to her bed and needed the help of an oxygen machine to breathe. Our family tried our best to protect my mother from the virus by showering and washing our clothes before greeting her and ensuring we wore a mask wherever we went. Unfortunately, the virus managed to creep into our house.

Before our Chemistry exam we found out that our mom had tested positive for COVID-19.

We were in an absolute state and were stressing throughout the exam, thinking of the worst possible case scenarios. When we arrived home, our mom was taken by an ambulance to the hospital and was later ventilated.

Before she was taken to the hospital, she asked us how our exam went and we just cried, she responded by saying, “My loves, nothing you can do would ever disappoint me. I know you both tried your best and that is all I can ask for. I am so proud of you both.”

‘Inspiration’

One week later, COVID-19 took away the most important person in our lives. She was our greatest cheerleader and inspired us to reach for the stars. We were determined to continue to work hard towards achieving the goals we always spoke to her about.

Since our mother’s passing, we strived to make her proud in every aspect of our lives. In matric we were both elected as prefects and then went on to receive our honors blazers for service, academics, culture and sport. We are officially finished with our final exams and can confidently say that we gave it our all.

Mom’s struggle influences career

Becoming a doctor and a dentist means more to us than just a title. We specifically chose these paths in our lives because our whole life we had to witness our mom struggle through a variety of complicated illnesses that the doctors were unable to treat. Our mother also had Osteoporosis as a result of high cortisol levels which lead to issues with her teeth which ultimately affected her self-confidence.

Our goals in life are to help those who feel helpless as a result of complicated illnesses as well as to both literally and figuratively bring smiles to people’s faces.

Lastly, we would like to express our gratitude towards the teachers, friends and family who stood by our sides through this emotional journey.

We could not have done it without you. – Rachel obtained six distinctions while Emma achieved five.

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Emma and Rachel Jacobs: Crawford International Lonehill