As the coronavirus continues its devastating hold on the world, Inchstones blogger Kelly Cervantes has found herself in the thick of what she has been doing every day since Oct. 12: thinking about her late daughter, Adelaide.
But she has also been thinking about the countless people of every age whose own health battles make it imperative for them to avoid the coronavirus at all costs.
“Wednesday night I started to write a post about how terrifying COVID-19 is to the medically complex and fragile communities,” Kelly, 37, wrote in a recent Instagram post alongside a picture of her dear Adelaide receiving a treatment in the days before her death. “I mean, our normal was already face masks and obsessive hand-washing for years — where do you go from there?”
It’s a question the world is undoubtedly asking themselves — and one that Kelly and her husband, Hamilton actor Miguel Cervantes, have been asking themselves oftentimes in recent years, as their daughter battled life-altering seizures that ultimately led to her untimely death this past October, just days before her fourth birthday.
And now they’re asking some of the same questions again, as Cervantes returns to his Chicago home after an all-too-brief stint on Broadway playing the title role in Hamilton. (Currently, Broadway shows have been suspended through April 12 due to the coronavirus pandemic.)
“In the world of grief, we are all playing the same game,” Miguel, 43, told PEOPLE exclusively in the weeks before COVID-19 took hold in the U.S. “We are all playing in different parts of the field, but we are playing the same game.”
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
Miguel Cervantes on Returning to Broadway 5 Months After Daughter’s Death: It’s “Upside Down”
Indeed, in the months following Adelaide’s death, Kelly has found herself with the almost unfathomable task of not only mourning the loss of her little girl, but staying strong for her husband and their 7-year-old son Jackson.
“We pushed through November — rather, we steamrolled through it — and when it got to December, I was personally wiped out,” she admits to PEOPLE. “Plus, I knew all the change that was coming in the new year.”
At the time, the world did not know that Miguel had received a call to join Broadway’s run of Hamilton. In fact, that call came just four days after Adelaide’s passing.
And while there was “never a question” that he would take the role, Kelly says the news left her with lingering questions about everything from where they would live to what the future actually held for her and her family.
It was almost too much for her to take. So, in December, Kelly took a break from social media. “I didn’t miss social media in the slightest,” she tells PEOPLE. “It had become a trigger for me to see other people’s healthy children and maybe even a jealousy, and I think that … “
And then, the tears begin to fall. “Everyone means well, but sometimes there is nothing anyone can say to make things better,” she admits. “It wasn’t healthy for me to be on social media. I wasn’t getting enough positive out of it. I know everyone meant well, but it wasn’t helping.”
And while her loyal group of Inchstones followers missed her during her social media break, it was her own husband who began to get a whole new appreciation for the work his wife had been doing as a result of her blog.
“I always have known that we have a story to tell,” reflects Miguel. “But it was during that social media break that I truly realized how many people were looking over at her and how much they needed Kelly’s writing, because it was something that was helping. I didn’t understand what it is that she was providing to people, but now I do.”
As information about the coronavirus pandemic rapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from CDC, WHO, and local public health departments and visit our coronavirus hub.
Source: Read Full Article