A BELFAST Blitz survivor who lived through the worst days of the Troubles has recovered from the coronavirus in time to celebrate her 100th birthday.
Ethel Sinclair was struck down with the deadly Covid-19 virus in her north Belfast nursing home at the beginning of April to the devastation of her family.
"She had a high temperature, a sore throat and a cough. She was tested and found to be positive for coronavirus," granddaughter Ashleigh Fox said.
"There was about two weeks when that virus was in her body and she was fighting it. It was relatively mild but she had loss of appetite and was very weak and in bed for quite a while.
"We had decided as a family that we wanted her to stay in the care home rather than go to hospital because of her age. We didn't want to move her and we knew she would be happier there."
The virus debilitated the 99-year-old for two weeks before her temperature started to regulate and she got "a wee bit more strength back", but she remains frail and weakened from the effects of the illness.
Her granddaughter praised staff at Bradley Manor, who she said Mrs Sinclair "loves" for their "wonderful care" for her.
"The staff have been fantastic, very helpful and professional and good at keeping us up to date twice a day with her condition. When she was in the depths of it they couldn't, but as she started to get better they've been helping her to Facetime (video call) us every day.
"We were able to see her getting a bit better each time and now she's much better. When her temperature dropped we knew she was over the worst, but it's a slow recovery. The common factor seems to be it takes a lot out of your body. She lost a lot of weight, but she's been out of bed and out in a wheelchair.
"She's so pleased to see the five greatgrandchildren and the most recent great grandchild, Georgia, who is five months old . She loves to see the baby."
The care home on Crumlin Road in north Belfast is just a few streets away from Silvio Street where she was born in a two-up-two-down terrace house and lived there most of her life, only moving first to sheltered accommodation in Tennant Street and later to Bradley Manor.
"She's lived through war and the Troubles and the Blitz, all of it."
On May 13, Mrs Sinclair will mark her 100th birthday and her family have had to drastically scale back their planned celebrations.
"We were originally had Belfast Castle booked. Not all of her (five) grandchildren live in Northern Ireland so they had planned to come home. That's obviously not happening now.
"We're going to go very, very low key. As long as she's up to it on the day the staff are going to bring her to outside and we're going to drive up and see her from our cars.
"They're getting a singer down as well."
Her family have asked any children who want to help Ethel Sinclair celebrate to draw her a birthday picture and post it to Bradley Manor, 420 Crumlin Road, Belfast BT14 7GE
"It's not every day you get to celebrate somebody being 100."
