(Minghui.org) The Chinese communist regime’s coverup of the coronavirus pandemic has led many people to develop a deeper understanding of the regime's repressive nature, including my husband.
Early Signs of Something Wrong
My family lives in Wuhan. My daughter and I are Falun Gong practitioners. Though my husband is not, he is a nice person.
We planned to go visit my parents in southern China for the Chinese New Year and purchased our train tickets—my daughter and I were scheduled to leave on January 23, and my husband would join us a few days later.
When news of the Wuhan virus broke in December 2019, my parents learned more about the epidemic through The Epoch Times and New Tang Dynasty TV, two overseas media with uncensored information about China. They were concerned and asked us to cancel our trip.
My husband did not understand why they didn’t want us to come. He thought that maybe my parents didn’t like him and were using the virus as an excuse not to see him.
A few days later, my parents asked my younger sister who lived abroad to cancel her flight back to China as well, one day before her departure.
My sister-in-law, who lives in Wuhan, came to visit us on January 22. She thought that we were overreacting. As we were talking, we heard funeral music from next door. Someone must have died, but none of us made a connection with the coronavirus at that time.
Wuhan, Devastated
The very next day, January 23, Wuhan was locked down. We later learned that several of our neighbors had caught the virus; a couple of them died.
Shortly after that, my husband heard that one of his best friends, Don, had died within three weeks of getting the virus.
Don's wife called my husband later and detailed what they had been through. When Don first felt ill, he and his wife went to the hospital. He got antibiotic shots the first three days, but his condition worsened and he developed a fever.
There were so many patients in the hospital that they had to wait for hours just to see a doctor. Sometimes, the line stretched outside the hospital. Once, Don's wife had to line up in the rain to save a place for him while he waited inside. With the long waiting time and a few hours of treatment, they didn't get home until 3:00 a.m.
Another time, when Don was getting his antibiotics via an IV, the person sitting beside him died. She said the hospital was like “hell on earth.”
When Don became weaker and had trouble breathing, it was too difficult for him to go to the hospital every day, especially since the bus service had been halted. At that point, he had made up his mind to die at home. But his family did not give up on him and, though connections, finally had him admitted to a hospital. That was two weeks after he first felt ill.
During the admitting process, the doctor confirmed that Don had “Wuhan virus” from his symptoms and said there was no need for a test. His wife did not know that this would be their final farewell.
Don called his wife a couple of days later. He asked her to come help him since he was too weak to clean himself. But the doctor didn’t let her go into his room. She brought him some diapers.
Don passed away in the hospital in just a week. His death certificate did not say that he died of coronavirus; his wife was notified to collect his ashes 15 days later.
My husband cried a few times after Don's death. “How could such a healthy guy go so quickly?” he lamented.
His other friend told him that two people in one family in their building were taken away. At first, the friend thought that they had contracted the virus and were being taken to the hospital. The truth, however, was more gruesome: they had actually died at home. It was their bodies that were being taken away.
My husband had another friend who drove from Wuhan to a relative's home to celebrate Chinese New Year with his wife. They had to stay in a separate house and hide their car, because the license plate was from Hubei Province. That was not how they had wanted to celebrate New Year's, and they decided to come home shortly after that. Their trip to Australia to visit their daughter and granddaughter after the Chinese New Year was canceled as well.
A Fundamental Change in Mindset
My husband had a cough but no fever before news of the Wuhan virus broke. With so many unpleasant things happening, he was very anxious—especially when it came time for him to go back to work.
I told him that Master Li said, “with one person practicing, the whole family benefits” (Teaching the Fa at the Fa Conference in Australia) and asked him to recite the magic words “Falun Dafa is good, Truthfulness-Compassion-Forbearance is good.”
My daughter also said, “Both mom and I are practitioners. You will be blessed and won't contract the virus.” Hearing this, he felt reassured and recited the phrases aloud.
When I saw that he was still apprehensive as he was getting ready to leave one morning, I reminded him to say the special words. He immediately repeated them and regained his confidence.
Later, his cough stopped, and be became calmer. When our neighborhood was locked down, he still went out to walk in the neighborhood. His friend heard about this and commended him for his positive attitude.
My husband withdrew from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) a few years ago. But because of the CCP’s pervasive misinformation, he still thought that China would be in chaos without the CCP.
One morning, he said to me, “I am so thankful that your parents asked us to cancel our trip. If you two had left me behind in Wuhan, I would have been terrified.”
Now when he watches the CCP's media coverage, he always asks me how things are being reported outside China. When the CCP began its propaganda movement thanking the leaders for winning the battle against the Wuhan virus, he was able to tell that the media was misleading people again.
He is more supportive of Dafa now. When my daughter and I read the Fa teachings together every day, he always tries not to disturb us.
My whole family offers our sincere thanks Dafa for protecting us during the pandemic.
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