ASBURY PARK, NJ – Back in May, Darlene Jasmine got the phone call that no one wants to receive: Her grandmother had come down with COVID-19.
© Thanks to Brighton Gardens of Middletown
Anna Del Priore, left, dances at Brighton Gardens, an assistant residential facility in New Jersey. At the age of 107, Del Priore has now contracted the coronavirus and Spanish flu.
At the age of 107.
“I thought, ‘Oh my God, this is it,'” Jasmine said. “This is the thing that will take her down.”
Did not happen. Anna Del Priore – who is one month ashamed to turn 108, was born the year the Titanic sank and survived a case of the Spanish flu a century ago – struck the coronavirus. Not only that, she’s still on her feet, walking and even dancing – to the delight of the staff at Brighton Gardens, an assistant housing facility in New Jersey.
© Thanks to Brighton Gardens of Middletown
Anna Del Priore
“People do not believe me,” said Laura Halle, who is Del Priore’s health care coordinator at Brighton Gardens. “It has been really great to see her journey.”
Del Priore was born in Brooklyn to deaf parents who learned sign language. She was a seamstress and her late husband, Frank, was a professional tango dancer.
“She always dances, always loves music,” said Jasmine, 66. “As soon as she hears music, her foot starts ticking.”
About 6 years old, Anna contracted the Spanish flu during the 1918 flu pandemic, Brighton Gardens officials confirmed. As with COVID-19, the Spanish flu attacked the respiratory system, albeit at a far lower mortality rate.
© Thanks to the Del Priore family
Anna Del Priore dances with her husband Frank in an undated photo.
“Maybe that has something to do with her recovery?” said Jasmine, who noted that Anna’s younger sister, 105-year-old Helen Guzzone from Queens, New York, also survived both illnesses.
After Anna became ill with COVID-19, Jasmine said, ‘She had a fever, did not eat much, but did not need a respirator. They did not have to send her to the hospital. ”
Now Del Priore has resumed its normal activities, including swimming and sewing.
“I feel good,” Del Priore said. “I thank God I live.”
Jasmine called it “a miracle”, but added that a life of healthy choices probably helped.
“She’s constantly moving,” Jasmine said. ‘We always walked in Brooklyn – to the groceries, to the bakery. Every night she would make a homemade meal from it all. All Mediterranean foods – olive oil, vegetables, fruits, nuts. It’s like the old cabbage they pay for you now. ‘
Del Priore has no plans to retire.
“You stay alive,” she said. ‘Dancing makes you feel good. I want to keep my health. ”
© Thanks to Brighton Gardens of Middletown
Anna Del Priore on her 107th birthday in September last year.
According to a gerontology site that follows such things, two 108-year-old Americans are confirmed to have survived the coronavirus and seven other Americans aged 107 or older have done so. All over the world, the 113-year-old woman in Spain was the oldest confirmed person to contract the disease.
Suffice it to say that Anna Del Priore does not count the days.
“She’s a month down from 108 and she’s getting up, combing her hair, walking and diving,” said Halle, her health care coordinator. “For the rest of my life I will be able to say that I met and loved someone who made it so far and stayed healthy.”
This article originally appeared in Asbury Park Press: She hit the Spanish flu, and now 107-year-old New Jersey woman hit COVID-19
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