Mom who survived COVID-19 co-authored children’s book with 11-year-old daughter

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    MOBILE, AL (WALA) — Faith and a mother’s love does not waver. Keshia Barnett is proof of that, after she was hit with so much uncertainty in the middle of a worldwide health pandemic.

“I had a dry cough and I said, ‘oh it’s just sinuses’, and everybody was like, ‘okay you might have the coronavirus’, and I was like, ‘no it’s just sinuses’, and that got worse. That cough is so bad, it’s all day long.” Barnett explained.

According to Barnett, she started feeling fatigued and sick in early March. But it wasn’t until the end of the month, when she took her symptoms more seriously and found out she tested positive for the coronavirus.

“It’s not the flu. And it attacks your mind, body and spirit,” she said. “I was angry, I was hurt, I was sad, all those things. Because I’ll be honest, I was just trying to make it through.”

During quarantine, Barnett said she realized this wasn’t just a scary situation for her, but it extremely traumatic for her 11-year-old daughter, Kyla. As a mom and 20 year educator, she wanted her daughter to know her feelings were heard and important so she asked Kyla to start journaling.

“During the whole experience I was scared and anxious and all kinds of feelings because I didn’t really know what to think about it. But then when she was like ‘let’s write a book’ I was like I don’t want to do that,” Kyla said.

Kyla eventually gave in and began writing. Soon enough, her personal journal and her mom’s experience turned into a project they could both share, a children’s book.

“The book is really a story. I start off with sort of what I’m telling you and we kind of go through the journey,” Keshia said. “We introduced ourselves and then we go through the journey of how I felt to my worst points, elaborating more about what was going on as far as physically and emotionally on my side, and then we get to her part where she’s talking about how she felt as a child.”

The mother-daughter duo hopes their story will help other parents and children have an honest conversation about a virus that is changing the world we live in and finding ways to cope when it hits close to home.

They have also created a website. There you can read more about their story and also purchase they’re book

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