Matthew Broderick's sister, Janet, contracted and beat coronavirus in 2020, and she shared her story about battling the disease with the rest of the world.
Janet is Matthew's older sister. She says that she was "close to death" as she contended with the virus and that her first night in the ICU at Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles was very scary.
While speaking to New York Magazine, Janet said "I was very, very sick. I could tell I was actually in big trouble."
Janet, who is a reverend, had been attending the Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes annual conference in Kentucky when she started to feel sick. She tested positive for the virus shortly after returning home, and her parish confirmed that at least one other attendee at the conference had also tested positive.
Janet checked into Cedars-Sinai on March 9, 2020 and was tested about five hours later. Her symptoms got steadily worse overnight.
Janet shared that her temperature shot up to 102 degrees F, and she was placed on an oxygen tube after she had difficulty breathing. She also received injections of antibiotics and of Kaletra, an antiviral drug often used to treat HIV. She also said that she thought she would die that first night, but that she wasn't afraid.
"I kind of had gone off the cliff — my lungs had to make a decision. I had pneumonia and water in my lungs. I remember thinking, ‘Calm down and go to sleep.’ I spoke to Jesus, I planned my funeral. I FaceTimed with my children. They say now I looked and sounded like Darth Vader. I was gasping for air."
"I was not frightened. But I don’t mean to say I didn’t take it seriously. I realized in a very, very deep and very real way that I had absolutely no control. For a lot of folks, when you know you are going to die, it is painful and uncomfortable and it can seem endless. For me, this didn’t last that long; I had about 18 hours."
"I think in that period of time, I felt my job was not to struggle against whatever God intended — I thought the struggle would kill me. I was afraid of fear. I knew that fear would hurt me and I knew that it could kill me. It was really important to stay out of that. Religious training gives you this place to go, which is this place of acceptance. I was there."
But happily, Janet woke up the next day and seemed a lot better. "My oxygen had gone up to about 95 percent, and I had no fever at all. The headache had left. I can’t explain this virus, but it’s not like any feeling or any illness I’ve ever had before in my life."
Janet said that in days since, she hasn't totally been in the clear. "Actually, this is a good day. I’m sort of up and down but mostly up and totally getting better. Occasionally, I have moments of being tired and thinking, 'Oh my God, it’s coming back.' I have been trying to really use my time to do spiritual things."
And while she is back home now and presumed to be OK, there's no way for her to know if she is infectious. So Janet, like a lot of us, is taking precautions. "I’m living very cautiously. I obviously don’t want to relapse, and of course, to possibly take the chance of infecting anyone. My kids are both here but I’m living on the top floor. When I use the kitchen, I wipe everything down with Windex and anyplace I touch. I wash my hands a lot. Last night, I watched television in the same room as them but sitting in a chair more than six feet away."
In a truly scary recounting, Janet describes what it was like to be unable to breathe. "Have you ever been where there isn’t quite enough oxygen? You just have to take more breaths and smaller ones. You don’t feel any liquid. Each breath is shorter and it’s more rapid. When I started getting critically ill, my breaths were not deep and came closer together. You try to stay evenly paced, even though the breathing rate increased. It’s sort of like a nice, sweet, painless way to die. Slowly, you are sort of getting less out of each moment. There was no pain. I couldn’t think. It’s a very scary thing in the hospital when you can’t think."
Janet said that she emerged from the experience even stronger in her faith as well. "I think I have given up that I would have a clear picture of life after death. I am very clear that we are not just our physical selves, though. I have absolutely nothing to say beyond that. I personally believe that even here and now, we have glimpses of heaven when we see grace and amazing miracles."
Matthew has also spoken about his sister's experience and said that "entire family is grateful for the concern about, and the well wishes for, my sister Janet. I’m happy to say she is feeling much better and is on the road to a full recovery." He also added that "we are all very appreciative for the wonderful care she received from the amazing doctors and nurses at Cedars-Sinai."
