When 89-year-old hospice patient Natalie Cunha tested positive for COVID-19 in April, her family feared the worst.
They prayed for a miracle and their prayers were answered, they said.
Cunha tested positive for the coronavirus with mild symptoms of a cough and occasional fever on April 25 at Sacred Heart Nursing Home, where she is in hospice care for her second bout with breast cancer, according to one of her five children, Annette Cunha of Dyersburg, Tennessee, who has her mother’s health proxy. Cunha had been tested for the virus about a month earlier and the test was negative.
At one point, doctors recommended transferring Cunha to St. Luke’s Hospital, but the family opposed the move, saying her wish was to not die in a hospital, said her granddaughter Michele Rapoza, a Realtor from Dartmouth. Cunha consults with Rapoza on all her mother’s medical decisions because she lives closer to the nursing home. She also speaks with Kenny and Charlie St. Clair, Cunha’s oldest sons, about her health care.
It was hard on the family to hear news reports of new cases and deaths from the coronavirus, knowing that Cunha was in hospice and also had COVID-19, they said.
Family members decided to take it one day at a time and pray for a miracle, they said.
They called Cunha daily never knowing if this was the last time they would talk with her, family members said. “We were worrying like crazy. She has cancer and we thought this (COVID-19) would do her in,” Annette said.
The news of her grandmother’s condition hit Rapoza especially hard because she sympathized with what her grandmother was going through.
Rapoza believes she got the virus sometime in December and didn’t recover until the end of January, although she was not tested for the virus. She was coughing, had chest congestion, felt like she “an elephant” was sitting on her chest and had a 103-degree fever for five days. “She’s getting what I had,” Rapoza said she thought to herself.
She was examined by her doctor who said there was some type of “lung infection going around,” she said. Other members of her family and a friend also got what she believes was the virus around the same time. They were also not tested.
Rapoza’s grandmother miraculously rebounded and she tested negative for the virus 20 days later on May 15.
“I thought this was a death penalty. We were all really scared. I felt like we were waiting. Everyone called her all the time,” Rapoza said. “We thought for sure that was it. Who on hospice can beat this? But she did. She’s not ready to go anywhere yet.”
It was devastating to the family to think there could be no funeral for her because of the limitations on the size of gatherings, she said. “We prayed and prayed,” she said.
The family felt their prayers were answered when they got the news that Cunha tested negative for the virus.
“I cried and cried and cried. It was so unbelievable,” Rapoza said. “I cried tears of happiness. It’s a miracle and I have never been so happy. She’s a tough cookie.”
A granddaughter, Lynnette Cunha, cried that she would not get to say goodbye to her grandmother at a service due to the restrictions on the size of gatherings.
In an interesting twist, the family decided not to tell Natalie she tested positive for the virus, family members said. They feared she would become depressed like she did when she learned she had cancer for a second time.
However, somehow Cunha found out she had the virus after she beat it and asked her daughter about it. “You did really well,” her daughter replied.
Cunha is not as lucky, though, with her cancer. She is jaundiced and the cancer is spreading, but she continues to fight, Annette said.
Cunha had three children from her first marriage and also raised her second husband, Richard Cunha’s, two children, Annette and Richard Cunha Jr., from when they were 6 and 8, respectively.
The family lived at the corner of Allen and Devoll streets, her daughter said. Natalie Cunha was a housekeeper, working for doctors and dentists in the city’s West End and the Taber Nursing Home, New Bedford. RIchard Cunha, was a supervisor at Frionor USA Inc. on New Bedford’s North Terminal for many years.
Richard died at the age of 82 in December 2018, a “bittersweet” moment for Rapoza, who had a grandson three days after his death, Rapoza said.
Natalie is “a very outgoing” and “a fun loving” person who enjoys making people laugh and would always cook a big holiday meal for her family, her daughter Annette said. “If you talk to any of the aides at the home, they love her,” she said.
Annette said Natalie was a wonderful, loving mother. “She loved us just like we were her own…at least that is what she told us,” Annette kidded. “She used to always say, ‘I did not give birth to you, but I couldn’t love you any less.’
“We would not be who we are today if she wasn’t my mother,” Annette said of herself and her brother Richard Jr.
Rapoza and her son, Caleb Rapoza, visited Cunha at the nursing home on Monday, the first day visitation privileges were restored, she said. They were only allowed to visit for 10 minutes, were limited to two visitors, had to wear masks and remain six feet apart.
“It was amazing,” she said. “She was in good spirits. The hard part was not being able to give her a hug.”
It was the first time Rapoza and Cunha saw each other since March because of the state’s restrictions on nursing home visits. Rapoza used to see her grandmother three times a week before the restrictions.
Rapoza also sneaked in two big bags of her grandmother’s favorite snack: Fritos. “I kind of think she was more happy to see the Fritos than me and Caleb,” she laughed.
She called her grandmother Tuesday night and Cunha was enjoying her Fritos and reading the cards family members had sent her.
“She’s so sweet. It was nice to just hear her voice,” she said. “I can’t believe she made it through.”
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