AN IRISH grandmother cocooning through the coronavirus crisis received a welcome visit from her family on what was her 88th birthday.
Kitty Dower from Waterford wasn’t expecting much on her big day.
As someone in her late 80s, Kitty has been required to remain at home throughout the current COVID-19 outbreak in Ireland.
With neighbours and garda offering assistance in delivery essential groceries and medicine, it’s proven an isolating but necessary period of confinement for the Waterford resident.
Things have been made all the more difficult for the fact Kitty has been unable to see her adult children or grandchildren during this time, amid concerns they could potentially give her the virus.
Her 88th birthday would have usually been a cause for much celebration among her family.
But with Kitty in lockdown it was shaping up to be a low-key affair.
However, her close relatives were not about to let the occasion pass without some kind of celebration.
Enlisting the help of local Garda O’Hara Hayes, they decided to surprise their beloved grandmother on her big day with a visit – of sorts.
Happy birthday to you!!!
Kitty Dower who is currently cocooning celebrated her 88th birthday today with members of her family and Garda O'Hara Hayes from Waterford. #SocialDistanacing #StayAtHome #FlattenTheCurve pic.twitter.com/z5v0bV1weL— Garda Info (@gardainfo) April 7, 2020
Keen to adhere to the rules around social distancing, the family gathered just outside Kitty’s house, while she spoke to them through a window.
They arrived with a hand-written sign reading “Happy 88th Birthday Nana Kitty”.
To top it all off, she was then handed a cake to enjoy.
It may have only been a small gesture but it was one she evidently appreciated greatly in these increasingly uncertain and isolated times.
Still, the party they have for her 89th birthday is sure to be a raucous one.
See More: Coronavirus, Covid-19, Waterford
