Regina woman mourns husband, lost to COVID-19

After days of fear and uncertainty, Roshelle Montgomery held her husband’s hand while he died last Thursday.

Warren Montgomery, 42, had COVID-19 and had been in the hospital for a week, but it all started on Easter Sunday. That’s when Roshelle tested positive.

She isolated but soon Warren wasn’t feeling well. Then he and one of their daughters tested positive as well.

“Warren and I both got really sick — I’ve probably never been that sick in my life,” said Roshelle.

“It was just really bad chills, fever, aches, pain (and) fatigue, and of course (we were) still trying to take care of the kids.”

Roshelle got better but Warren kept getting worse.

“He started with a really bad cough and was struggling to breathe,” she recalled.

They called 911 and paramedics came to check on him. They said his vitals and oxygen were OK at that time, so they left him at home.

Warren posted on Facebook at that time: “It’s real, it’s not Government lie, it’s not common cold COVID it’s real. I’ve been battling COVID for six days and yesterday was my scariest day, I almost went to the hospital but thank God I didn’t have to … Y’all keep me and family in y’all prays.”

Two days later it got worse.

“Warren couldn’t stop coughing, couldn’t catch his breath, couldn’t talk because he couldn’t breathe, so we called 911. And at that point they did take him in and he was put in the COVID unit,” said Roshelle.

Once Warren was in the hospital, Roshelle said he wasn’t doing well.

“He was really scared. He just wanted to come home,” said Roshelle.

Warren was on maximum oxygen but he kept getting worse. Roshelle said one night he panicked and pulled out his oxygen so he was sedated and put on a ventilator and sent into the ICU.

Roshelle said the ICU wasn’t filled with older people. It was people in their 30s and 40s – like Warren – who were fighting.

“It’s a nightmare. That ICU unit is a nightmare,” said Roshelle.

The doctors were trying to figure out how to get a procedure for Warren that would help oxygenate his blood, but Roshelle said he had a significant stroke. Soon after, she got a call from the ICU that he wasn’t going to recover.

“I spent that morning with him when he passed,” said Roshelle.

The outpouring of grief and support for Roshelle and her family from the community has been huge. Warren ran The Big Easy Kitchen in Regina and was a big part of the food scene. After the news of his passing started getting around, all kinds of tributes and messages started coming in.

Roshelle called it overwhelming, but in a good way.

“It makes my kids feel good, seeing everything. They’re very proud of him. It makes them feel really happy,” said Roshelle.

Roshelle said everyone was attracted to Warren and wanted to be around him.

“You can see it in all his pictures — he was a big, big personality. Happy, outgoing, passionate – his passion is what everyone will tell you. You couldn’t tell him no. You couldn’t tell him anything, really,” she said with a small laugh.

“If he had his mind set on something, that’s what he was going to do.”

With the huge support from the community that came, Roshelle said maybe Warren’s dream did come true.

“His dream was always The Big Easy Kitchen. That was always his dream, and he had bigger plans for it than he was able to finish, but I think his dream was realized, he just didn’t know it yet,” said Roshelle.

A service was held for Warren on Monday. And this weekend, Roshelle said his family in Atlanta is going to have a big crawfish boil to celebrate his life.

When it comes to COVID, Roshelle said she understands the fatigue, that people are tired and they want their lives back. But she said variants are a whole different beast, and people just have to be patient.

“What these people are going through, what my family are going through – it’s not worth a Sunday supper, because I don’t get to have Sunday suppers with my husband anymore. It’s just not worth it,” said Roshelle.