Lucia DeClerck has been getting a lot of attention lately. She celebrated her 105th birthday on January 25 – the same day she was diagnosed with COVID-19, reports CBS Philly.
Staff at Mystic Meadows Rehab and Nursing Center in Little Egg Harbor, New Jersey, said the DeClerck station was fairly asymptomatic but was in the facility for 14 days in the COVID-19 unit.
CBS Philly
Now she can call herself a COVID-19 survivor – according to The New York Times, which also spoke to DeClerck, the oldest at the nursing home.
This means that the centenarian survived two pandemics. She was just two years old and was living in Hawaii when the Spanish flu started, reports The New York Times. DeClerck also survived two world wars, killing three men and killing one of her three sons.
DeClerck’s daughter-in-law told CBS Philly that she’s a compassionate person. “She’s a very gentle person,” Lillie Jean Laws said.
“She was just open to everything in life and I think it really helped her because she did not hesitate to do what she wanted to do,” DeClerck’s son, Henry Laws III, told the station.
DeClerck’s resilience caught the attention of New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, who called her in person, Mystic Meadows staff told CBS Philly. “He was very comfortable. He wanted to see how she felt, and he was so happy to see that she was recovering well,” the staff member said.
Asked about her long-lived secret, DeClerck said, “Pray, pray, pray. And don’t eat junk food.” But she told the Times there could be another reason why she survived COVID-19 – the nine gin-soaked golden raisins she eats every morning.
Now her family is taking over the unique regime that DeClerck swears. “Now everyone’s rushing out to get Mason bottles and yellow raisins and try to catch up with us,” said her 53-year-old granddaughter, Shawn Laws O’Neil.