EDITORS NOTE: Carly Stagg was a beautiful, young woman who worked in the media in Calgary. She was born with cystic fibrosis and needed a lung transplant just a few years ago..When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, she knew she was in a high risk group..She passed away this week from complications from cancer at the age of 39 – becoming what she feared, a statistic of being another death of someone with a pre-existing medical condition..With permission from her family, the Western Standard is publishing an April blog post from her, unedited..Please be warned that the following post contains profanity..Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com.Twitter.com/nobby7694.I work in news. Every time we report a death linked to COVID-19, there seems to be an echoed chorus rising from the public demanding to know the pre-existing condition that led this person to become a victim of the virus..It bothers me. Every. Fucking. Time..It’s possible the fact that I was born with a genetic disease that led to an organ transplant, which led me to having a compromised immune system that made my body susceptible to that cancer bullshit has made me a little sensitive..I am a walking pre-existing condition..To the masses out there, haphazardly self-isolating on terms they feel reasonable, this condition would make me an expendable casualty in this pandemic war. My death would be met with sighs of relief and a generally acknowledged sense that I somehow had it coming for daring to be born so cursed..The mere fact that I was born genetically flawed set me up from birth to be cannon fodder in the coronavirus conflict..My death would be glossed over as people rolled over and went back to sleep, asking to only be awakened when a truly tragic death was announced..Here’s the thing. Fuck you..I’m an educated person, I’m reasonably intelligent, my bills are paid, I have no debt, I have no criminal record, aside from a speeding ticket or two, I know the difference between your and you’re, I don’t go out of my way to hurt people, I feel badly when I do, I’m not a whisperer of outlandish conspiracy theories, I’m a decent baker, I speak two languages and can stumble my way through in a third..I’m not less worthy of continuing my life than you are. I’m a person, yes. I have a family and friends who care about me, obviously. But the real kicker of this whole thing is because my life wasn’t perfect from the get-go, because things have been medically challenging, I’ve endured a lot of emotional and physical pain and gone through things that would make the average person crumble to their knees — all for the sake of moving this cursed existence forward another day..I’ve fought, kicked, scraped and karate chopped through things that most people can’t even handle hearing about, because I have no other choice. I wasn’t given one. I didn’t ask for any of this. My parents weren’t being irresponsible in having me, as there was no genetic history of the disease in my family (and it was the 80s, before genetic testing was available), I wasn’t dreaming of having a lung transplant before the age of 30, no one puts “get cancer” on their life’s to-do list..My life has been hard. And if, God forbid, I’m taken out by this fucking virus, that would be a deeply tragic and abrupt ending to my story. That ending would be worthy of at least a tear or two..So if you think for a second having a pre-existing condition somehow makes a COVID-19 death less unfortunate, you’re a dick..Carly Stagg.Carly’s friends have set up several fundraisers in her honour..The Canadian Transplant Association was instrumental to Carly’s well-being when she went through a lung transplant..Cystic Fibrosis Canada donations will be matched by a benefactor until December 31, 2020.
