The family appreciates the blessings that came with this harrowing experience

Getting infected with COVID-19 is an experience no one would wish on anyone, even more so on children. This was the challenge 42-year-old Taekwondo Olympian instructor Donnie Geisler and his wife had to face when they found out they had COVID-19, along with one of their household helpers. How do they made sure their 11-year-old daughter Frankie doesn't get infected?

Donnie shared their story to Manila Bulletin Lifestyle on how the overcame this stressful chapter in their lives. "We got infected from a visitor in our home. We got infected five days after the visit last August 3, 2021," he says. "Our visitor informed us that she tested positive for COVID-19 around a week after her visit. When we got the call, our household help and I were feeling the symptoms for three days already."

Jen told Manila Bulletin Lifestyle that she wasn't experiencing symptoms yet, but Donnie was already. He was getting paranoid because he was having colds and already loosing his sense of smell. Their friend advised him to try smelling bleach, which he did and he couldn't smell anything. That was already one sign that COVID-19 might have infected them."

So they took the RT-PCR test. "Our house help, my wife Jen, and I tested positive for COVID-19," Donnie confirms. Between the waiting time of less than 24 hours, they locked themselves down at home. "I decided to stay with Donnie in our room even if I was still asymptomatic. I also assumed that I had the virus since I am always beside Donnie. It was only after two days that I started having the symptoms myself. So we had to adjust the quarantine period from 14 days to 16 days."

With their daughter free from the virus, they parents acted fast in making sure she doesn't get it. "We had enough rooms in the house, since we we’re just three who were infected. I isolated with my wife in our room and our daughter stayed in her room. Only one of our helper was infected so she isolated in an extra room at home. Then one helper who was not positive took care of us with preparing our food and essentials. We also had help from our stay-out driver who went out to buy medicines and essentials."

Donnie and his wife are fully vaccinated, along with their driver and other household help who didn't get infected. The only one who has yet to get herself vaccinated was the other household help. The vaccines are believed to lessen the harsh attacks of the virus, the still had symptoms such as ever, chills, loss of smell and taste, cough and colds, brain fog, body and joint aches.

But the most challenging moments for them was when they were in isolation to recover. They had to complete the 14-day quarantine to make sure they won't infect anyone else. "Not being able to see our daughter. We felt sorry for Frankie because she was isolated by herself in her room. She started feeling anxiety and sadness. Good thing school started on our second week of isolation which kept her busy. Another challenge was keeping our room clean everyday, eating meals in the room was also a struggle. Lastly, was the worries of not being able to do your daily tasks, how to pay bills and worries of other members of the household for them not to get infected as well," reveals Donnie.

Jen added that it was, in hindsight, a blessing in disguise that she stayed with her husband. "His tolerance for pain is high, but he was getting depressed. I, on the other hand, am optimistic that we will get through this but my threshold for pain is low. So being together throughout this ordeal was a good thing. We balanced each other out."

"As for manang, she was grateful for us being there to take care of her, but she couldn't sleep at night. She was afraid of not being able to wake up in the morning," said Jen. "As for Frankie, she was crying every night, scared that her parents would die." Frankie had to learn a lot of life skills for the 16 days she was alone in the room, from sweeping the floor to fixing her bed. "She was also getting depressed. Being alone, good thing school started on the second week of our quarantine so she was able to keep her busy."

The whole household is now free from the virus, and the family has learned a lot from this experience. "It has taught us to be more vigilant and not complacent on following safety protocols at home, and to avoid visitors while the Delta Variant is out there because it’s really contagious. We became closer to God, praying played a big role during isolation and recovery. Truly God is good and having faith in him during our struggle made everything alright," says the head of the DG Taekwondo.

He reminds everyone the importance of getting vaccinated, "Once you get the opportunity, just grab it. It’s safer to be vaccinated at least when you get infected you’ll only get mild symptoms."