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A woman whose mother has become Northern Ireland\u2019s fourth victim of Covid-19 has lambasted the \u201cselfishness\u201d of people who continue to gather in groups.<\/p>\nA woman whose mother has become Northern Ireland\u2019s fourth victim of Covid-19 has lambasted the \u201cselfishness\u201d of people who continue to gather in groups.<\/p>\n
Brenda Doherty said her family was \u201cdevastated and heartbroken\u201d by the death of mother-of-five Ruth Burke, 82, but proud of a loved one who had unbelievable strength.<\/p>\n
She paid tribute to NHS staff who cared for her mother.<\/p>\n
Ms Doherty said: \u201cTo those of you who out there are being so selfish in gathering in packs \u2013 wise up.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow selfish can you be?\u201d<\/p>\n
She is deferring celebration of her mother\u2019s life until it is safe to do so.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mum was not just a statistic,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was a woman who had unbelievable strength and suffered many challenges in her life.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately this was one that she was not going to overcome.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ruth\u2019s family could not be with her when she died or afterwards due to the risk of infection.<\/p>\n
Ms Doherty added: \u201cWe will not see her in her coffin.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will not get to give her a kiss but I know we did that when it mattered and that was when mummy was alive.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe kept our mum safe as best we could until we could not keep her safe any more.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Doherty used an emotional social media post to say she was down to her last half bottle of hand wash because shop shelves were empty.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mum would not believe how people would be behaving.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe would have thought better of society.\u201d<\/p>\n
And Ms Doherty thanked those helping the vulnerable.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mum was a woman who lived her life to the full.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had lots of hard times in her life but she valued life.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you value life you will stay home to do as we have been asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy mum may be the fourth person to pass of Covid-19 but the sad reality is she probably won\u2019t be the last.\u201d<\/p>\n