Winchester Woman's Three Brushes With COVID-19

WINCHESTER, CA — Maylette Brown's birthday is Jan. 29. She turns 47. But the mother of three adult children has her funeral arrangements in place, just in case. She dodged two coronavirus bullets last year but hasn't been so lucky in 2021.

Brown has numerous underlying health conditions — asthma, breast cancer, lupus and others. Despite trying hard to avoid it, she's also been stricken with COVID-19.

On Thursday, Brown was back at her Winchester home after being in and out of the hospital. She's on oxygen and has a chest port, and two home health caregivers are assigned to her. Speaking by phone, she coughed and often gasped for air. She also got emotional.

"I'm not going to lie," she said. "I'm scared."

Brown's three kids live with her. Her 28-year-old daughter has been working on a master's degree; she caught the virus but is recovering. Brown's 27-year-old special-needs son also got sick, and the stress has caused mental health issues for him, she said. Her youngest daughter, 24, has been COVID-19-free. She joined the Marine Corps and starts boot camp March 8.

Brown is encouraging her children to keep forging ahead, especially her eldest, who has been caring for the family. Her daughter's coursework, however, was paused during Brown's first pandemic scare.

Brown thinks she was exposed to the coronavirus in March. She had traveled upstate to say goodbye to her dying biological father, whom she had never met. She was staying at the same Northern California hotel where some Grand Princess passengers checked in after they were finally allowed to disembark from the ship that carried travelers infected with the coronavirus.

By the time she arrived back in Southwest Riverside County, Brown was sick with COVID-19 symptoms. She checked in to Murrieta's Rancho Springs Medical Center, where she stayed in quarantine for two weeks.

Hospital officials told her she was the facility's first suspected case, Brown said. "I didn't test positive for COVID-19," she said. The pandemic was still young. "I don't think they really knew what was wrong with me."

A second brush with the coronavirus occurred over the summer when she found out she had been exposed. Fortunately, negative tests came back for the whole family.

Brown may have escaped COVID-19 at the time, but she struggled with health issues throughout 2020. By December, she was back in the hospital. Dec. 31 was particularly rough. She was home to celebrate New Year's Eve with family, but she was very sick — chills, body aches, fever. She went to Temecula Valley Hospital.

"The emergency department got me in right away," Brown said. This time, a COVID-19 test confirmed what she had been fearing for nearly a year. "I didn't get the test result until Jan. 8, but it was positive," she said.

Brown has been in and out of hospitals for the last seven years because of her ongoing health issues. But her January experience was horrifying. This time she was isolated with COVID-19 patients at the height of hospitalizations.

"To see people in the hallway, dying. They were so pale. People everywhere," Brown said. "I cried. I couldn't take it. Code blue everywhere."

When she was well enough, she begged to be discharged. The doctors agreed, but she wasn't out of the woods.

"If I'm going to die, I want to be home," Brown said.

She got a second COVID-19 test last week, which still showed positive, she said.

Speaking on the phone Thursday, Brown said she had a terrible headache and a low fever. She said she has also been struggling with memory loss, blurred vision and loss of hearing on her left side.

Brown broke down over a conversation about her elderly mom, whom she hasn't been able to visit because of COVID-19. Her mother was widowed two years ago after a concrete pump truck traveling west on Interstate 10 in Rialto jumped the center divider and smashed into eastbound traffic. Dudley White, 74 — Brown's stepfather since infancy — was an innocent victim killed in the fiery wreckage.

Brown's salvation has been her faith, her children — and neighbors via the Nextdoor app for Spencer's Crossing, Winchester, who have helped the family with meal delivery and support.

Someone even ordered books for one of her daughters and had them delivered.

"You just don’t know how touched I was," Brown said. "I can say we are very blessed."

Brown asked for prayer and for people to stop bickering over COVID-19. "This nation has lost so many people from this virus," she said. "People, stop complaining. Stick together and help each other. We all can do this."