TORONTO -- A Toronto long-term care home resident and her family are celebrating a monumental moment — turning 105-years-old and recovering from COVID-19.
Stanislava Stathakis lives at Eatonville Care Centre, one of the hardest hit facilities of the pandemic in Ontario. Forty residents have died from virus.
Her family said she started experiencing a high fever and trouble breathing about a month ago. They were told to prepare for the worst, but then her condition improved.
Thursday, three generations of Stathakis’ family gathered outside her centre to wish her a happy birthday.
“She’s just so strong. She’s just a survivor. She will be able to get through this . Her goal is to be 120, ‘and babcia you’re going to do it,’” her granddaughter-in-law Julie Stathakis told CTV News Toronto.
“With the help of the staff, the care and support she’s received, she’s pulled through. She’s a miracle.”
Stathakis was born in Poland and came to Canada in 1975. She has two sons, two grandsons and four great grand-children.
Her son George said that over her life-time she’s been a devoted Catholic, ran a store, helped charities, and beat another infectious disease once before.
“My mother survived typhus right after the war,” he said. “[She is] strong willing inside, [has a] very hard to push to live.”
The celebration also included the family singing to Stathakis in Polish, lots of waves and well wishes on a video call. Stathakis lives on the top floor of the home and it’s difficult to see her in her room from below.
The family wanted to return the inspiration she’s always shared and they are grateful their matriarch is still with them.
“This is a lady who was doing push ups in her late 80s and was always beating me even though I was younger,” said grandson Nicholas Stathakis.
“She’s always been a powerful motivator to keep faith, keep hope.”
