‘COVID SUCKS,’ SAYS HUNTSVILLE CHEF BEFORE DYING DEC. 27
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
HUNTSVILLE — The face of COVID is remote for most Muskokans who know few of the 156 residents who have tested positive so far for the coronavirus.
Privacy prevents that.
But the three local people who have died — in a relatively unaffected northern area of the region — bring the deadly pandemic closer to home.
A Muskoka Lakes resident was the first to succumb April 9.
Dec. 11 a Huntsville man 45-64 died in hospital.
Both were publicly anonymous.
Not so Dave Kealey, 61, a well-known and loved local chef who died Dec. 27 — the day after the latest provincial lockdown.
A death notice in the St. Catharines Standard read:
“It is with great sadness we announce the passing of our beloved son David, after a courageous battle with Covid. David will be dearly missed by his wife Rhonda (Christenson), his parents John and Maureen Kealey; siblings, Paul (Teresa), Marc (Daniela), Janet (Rick), Chris (Valentina), Sean (Brenda) and his many nieces, nephews and friends.
“Dave worked as a chef which was a passion for him. He loved his dogs, music and reading. He was warm and welcoming to everyone; a caring person who helped out many. Cremation has taken place. A memorial mass will be held at St. Patrick’s Church in Niagara Falls at a later date.”
He worked at various Huntsville and Muskoka restaurants, including Deerhurst, Port Cunnington Lodge, Hidden Valley Resort, Cedar Grove Lodge and most recently at Wilgress on Main Street in Huntsville. And this past summer at Field of Greens in Port Carling.
Kealey’s wife blames herself for her husband getting the coronavirus.
“Long story short I gave it to him.”
In one of many Facebook posts in which she poured out her heart, she wrote:
“I have been asked quite a few times where Dave got the virus and who he was in contact with. I understand for some the virus became very real and you are scared it is in our community. I am copying something I wrote to another person over a week ago.
“Long story short I gave it to him.”
She went on to explain her mom was close to death in a northern Alberta hospital Nov. 16.
Christenson flew to Edmonton the next day then drove eight hours north.
It was during that mercy mission she believes she picked up the virus.
“I was so careful double masked, used sanitizer, gloves, when I was touching something I hadn’t wiped down. I didn’t want to expose my mom to COVID in case she pulled through.”
But her mom didn’t pull through her daughter learned landing in Edmonton, before spending the week after grieving with her brother and sister who tested negative.
Nov. 21 she experienced COVID-like symptoms — slight congestion “and had a weird runny nose and slight headache.”
When Kealey picked her up at the airport in Toronto, she wrote: “I didn’t feel 100% but still thought the stress of mom passing, two-hour time difference, smoke and -30 weather were the cause.”
She said she wanted to get tested immediately so she wouldn’t pass it on at work.
So she booked an appointment at the Assessment Centre in Bracebridge the next day.
That morning she said “I had zero sense of smell and we both were pretty sure then I had COVID.”
Two days later she was a confirmed case and one of Simcoe Muskoka’s health unit statistics.
“Dave was starting to have body aches, tiredness and a headache on Friday and we mentioned it to the nurse. She wanted him to get tested, but as we were isolating already, he decided not to.”
About Nov. 30 Kealey developed a dry cough and fever — different from his wife — “vomiting, zero appetite, chills, all that yucky stuff.”
Five days later they called their family doctor who Christenson says “suggested lots of fluids and very small snack-like meals.
“Which we did,” she wrote.
“He started to feel better, but at night his coughing was so bad. I asked him each morning if we should go to emerg. But his symptoms always seemed to get better during the day.”
On the night of Friday Dec. 4 “before I forced him to go in, he woke up and thought he was having a panic attack. He was hyperventilating.”
The next day “I told him that morning we were going to emerg.”
She called the hospital to find out the protocol “and where they wanted us to go, as I believed Dave had COVID.”
Christenson said she had already received her attestation report saying “I was no longer contagious the week prior.
“I wheeled him into the hospital, they took his oxygen reading and he was immediately put in ICU.”
Kealey went into ICU at Huntsville Memorial Hospital Dec. 12.
Two days later he posted on Facebook: “CoVid sucks! Be nice wear a mask and stay the hell away from people. I have a new home for a while complete with bells alarms and bed flips. Update available on my wife’s page. Take care of each other please.”
Dec. 21 he went on a ventilator and was airlifted to Royal Victoria Hospital Dec. 22, where he died five days later.
“He wasn’t in contact with anyone other than me,” wrote Christenson. “He never left the house as we were first self isolating and then he was too sick.”
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