This trucker died of COVID-19. Now his mother has a message for convoy protesters

The mother of an unvaccinated Ontario trucker who died of COVID-19 is urging other drivers protesting vaccine mandates across Canada to get their shots to protect their families, colleagues and the public. 

Margaret Makins said her 70-year-old son Dave Mitchell, who was from Ayr in the Township of North Dumfries, had no major health issues before contracting COVID-19. He died in October after battling the virus for weeks. 

Quick witted, popular and "generous to a fault," Mitchell "lived by his own rules," according to his mother. She believes his rebellious spirit is part of what made him say no to getting vaccinated. 

Makins wants those participating in the convoy protests to know that pandemic mandates exist to protect families from severe illness and death — to prevent the kind of giant chasm that was left by the loss of her son.

"Dying of COVID is not a pleasant experience. It's absolutely horrible," said Makins, who didn't want her age published. "If my story would convince just one of them to get vaccinated, I would feel that David's dying has some value.

"No one can force them to vaccinate and I can appreciate that, but for the sake of your families, your partners, your employers, every single person you meet, it is better for you to be vaccinated so you can help them continue to live."

Makins said she sat with her son as he lay dying in the intensive-care unit at Cambridge Memorial Hospital for three weeks, hooked up to a ventilator. As his mother held his hand and spoke to him, she could hear the rhythmic hum of the machines keeping him alive in the background. 

"I talked to him about his family, about him, about how much he was loved. He was my first born."

Makins was a mother of three, but Mitchell was her only surviving child; his brother and sister died of cancer. And Makins knew, from what the doctors were telling her, she would soon have to say goodbye to him too. 

"When it got closer to the end, I told him I knew he wasn't going to make it, but hoped that when he got to heaven and met his brother and sister there, that I hoped they would have a good time."

Makins said it was "the most difficult decision" to pull the plug and end her son's life, but she felt that because her son could no longer breathe without the aid of machines, there was little choice.

"We knew he was never going to have any quality of life. In fact, he was probably already gone and only being kept alive with machines."

Mitchell died Oct. 15, survived by his three children, and his father and mother.

When contacted by CBC, Cambridge Memorial Hospital spokesperson Stephan Beckoff was unable to confirm any details surrounding his illness or death, citing patient privacy.