“I know she kept wanting to go home to teach. She wanted to be with the kids she taught, ”said Phillip Belone. “She was given oxygen training when she would have been in the hospital, but her condition reached the point where she was physically unable to breathe.”
Philamena Belone returned to the hospital almost two weeks later on Nov. 28, her brother said. A week later, she was put on a ventilator in a last-ditch effort to save her life.
But on December 11, the previously healthy 44-year-old died at Lovelace Medical Center in Albuquerque. She leaves behind three children and a grandchild, as well as her parents, brother and sister.
The Belone family and many of the students the teacher served are part of the Navajo Nation in New Mexico.
She wanted every student to feel special
Philamena Belone gave her heart to her students and she did everything she could to meet them at their level, her brother said.
“The most difficult students were given to my sister,” Belone said with a laugh. ‘She taught children that everyone but them gave up. She never gave up on anyone. ‘
Belone was a teacher at Wingate Elementary School in Fort Wingate, New Mexico, about two hours west of Albuquerque. Her school confirmed her death in a statement to CNN.
“Her smile beamed through her classroom and her laughter could be heard in the hallways,” said Principal Eric North. She always had a kind word for others who came across her path, whether in the cafeteria, by the buses, or on the playground. Her energy and sense of humor were infectious. ‘
During the pandemic, Philamena Belone gave virtual classes, her brother said. However, many of her Navajo students lacked access to a reliable Internet, he said.
As a result, Belone said his sister would drive to two hours each way each week and leave the materials for her students at school.
She adapted the materials for everyone, he said. For some students she made paper copies, while others had laptops but no internet, so she made flash drives for them with the materials. Other students could only go online at night through their parents’ phone, so she worked nights to meet their needs.
“She provided arts and crafts, small personal notes and memories specific to each child,” Belone said. “She did her best to educate her children through phone calls, the Internet when it was available, and making the hard copies for all of her courses for the week.”
Belone estimates that his sister worked 70 hours a week. She did it because she loved the students and wanted to make them all feel special, her brother said.
“A lot of the kids she worked with didn’t have the best upbringing, so she always went to another level personally to interact with them and be a big sister or an aunt to them,” he said.
“My sister also had difficult circumstances in her life, so she had a special bond with children with behavioral problems,” Belone said. She would love to connect with the children and make them happy. That was her reward. ‘
She went from being healthy to fighting for her life
Philamena Belone started to feel unwell on November 12, her brother said. The symptoms were minimal at first, but a persistent cough brought her to the emergency room. Doctors diagnosed her with Covid-19 and pneumonia.
Doctors gave her oxygen and she stayed there for three days, but her desire to teach again was strong, her brother said.
She went home with an oxygen tank and mask and tried her best to continue teaching until the end of the school year, her brother said. Her youngest son lived with his mother, but he left the house while his mother went into quarantine.
Within two weeks, she had gotten worse and was taken back to Albuquerque hospital.
Philamena Belone was a runner and someone who loved to train. Her brother thought it incredible that she had to be placed on a ventilator on December 6, he said.
The family also understood what the fan meant: Belone lost his uncle and aunt to the virus after they both sat on fans, he said.
They thought Philamena Belone would be okay. “Before that, she was a healthy, vibrant, good soul that we never expected to be in this situation,” Belone said.
She kept fighting and assured her family it would be okay, he said. Philamena Belone never wanted anyone to care about her and was a very private person, he said.
“We didn’t realize it was such a dramatic circumstance until after she was physically admitted for the second time,” Belone said. ‘I had the impression that she would still be fine and that the symptoms weren’t that bad. She hid it all very well from all of us. ‘
The family said doctors found blood clots in her lung and discovered she had a collapsed lung. She also developed kidney failure and had to undergo dialysis.
“I saw her at her worst, but understood that she was fighting her heart and that she was ready to rest,” he said. Eventually, her family made the heartbreaking decision to take her off a ventilator.
“After we made the decision … I was literally numb,” Belone said. “I had no feeling in my body. I didn’t know if I was dreaming or I didn’t know what was real.”
She had a ‘big vibrant infectious smile’
When not in class, Philamena Belone enjoyed horseback riding, hunting, crafting, and traveling. She also loved to dance and spent time teaching her students some moves, her brother said.
Most of all, she “loved children,” said her brother.
Philamena Belone was a devoted, loving mother of three.
“Her children are devastated for the loss of their precious sweet mother,” Belone said.
Mekaile Belone, 27, Quionna, 22, and Dion Dotson, 19, now lack their mother’s love and support. She also left behind a 4-year-old granddaughter, Mila.
But what Belone will miss most about his sister is her smile with her “nice dimple on her right cheek.”
“Everyone will miss her big, vibrant, infectious smile. Everyone will miss her smile,” he said. “What I’m going to miss most about her is her willingness to make people happy at all costs.”
Belone said he knows he is not alone in the loss he and his family have felt as a result of the pandemic.
“Philamena’s story is not unique,” Belone said. “We should focus on all of the stories, all of the hundreds of thousands of people, all of the millions of people in our country affected by this.”
In any case, Belone hopes that people can learn from the life of serving and giving from his sister.
“She would have wanted everyone to love and not judge each other, to see the best in everyone and do everything they could to make the world a better place,” he said. “That was her legacy.”
CNN’s Hollie Silverman contributed to this report.