Albertan Maae Czan feels as though she’s navigating two alternate universes: the oddly surreal space of COVID-19 restrictions and the devastating fog of losing a child.
Czan’s two-year-old daughter Rio had cerebral palsy and died March 13 after coming down with a cold. “It was really surprising how hard it hit her,” Czan said. “And things just deteriorated and she never recovered from it.” While the COVID-19 crisis was just beginning to surge in Alberta at the time of Rio’s death, it impacted Czan and partner Darren Dunfield’s support network at the funeral March 18. “The day-of, a lot of people that had planned on coming, I just kept getting texts saying, ‘I’m sorry, we can’t make it.