05.21.2020

Dorothy Duffy Reads Her Poem “My Sister Is Not a Statistic”

More than a quarter of the coronavirus deaths in the UK have been in care homes. Rose Mitchell was one of those who succumbed to the virus. She died in a London care home last month, and afterwards her sister, Dorothy Duffy, wrote a powerful poem to memorialize her life. Duffy joins the program to remember her sister and read an excerpt from her poem.

Read Transcript EXPAND

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: And I wonder if you could maybe read for us a little excerpt of the poem that you wrote for your sister afterwards.

DOROTHY DUFFY: Yes, of course. My sister is not a statistic. Tomorrow, when the latest deathometer of COVID is announced in sonorous tones, my sister will

be among those numbers. Among the throwaway lines, among the platitudes and lowered eyes, an older person with underlying health conditions, a pitiful

way to lay rest the bare bones of a life.

My sister is not a statistic. Her underlying conditions were love, kindness, belief in the essential goodness of mankind, uproarious laughter,

forgiveness, compassion, a storyteller, a survivor, a comforter, a force of nature and so much more. My sister was not a statistic. She died without

the soft touch of a loved one’s hand. Without a feathered kiss upon her forehead. Without the muted murmur of familiar family voices gathered

around her bed. Without the gentle roar of laughter that comes with memories recalled, evoked from a time that already seems distant, when we

were connected by the simplicity of touch, of voice, of presence.

About This Episode EXPAND

Peter Piot is one of the world’s leading epidemiologists who co-discovered Ebola back in 1976. More than 40 years later, he was nearly felled by COVID-19–a gruelling experience from which he is still in recovery. He explains what he learned.

LEARN MORE