An unprecedented birthday

She had plans to celebrate her 11th birthday. Then her entire family got COVID-19.

BY KAYLA GREEN

After having to cancel her last two birthday parties due to unforeseen circumstances, first because her father was sick, last year because a family member died, her mother wanted her eldest's 11th birthday to be special. Then the entire family got COVID-19. Instead of the "Tik Tok birthday sleepover" Alicia Adger planned for Jordan Adger, the two and Jordan's sister stood on their front porch on Patriot Parkway just past Patriot Park in the heat of July as family and friends drove past. Instead of a small group of Jordan's friends and cousins spending the night at a hotel with Alicia, having fun dancing the night away as they film dance videos on the social media platform, she waved as birthday songs floated

from behind masks out of cars across the yard. "She's always dancing. She was dying for that," her mother said. Horns blared. Dad remained inside, too sick to partake in the surprise birthday parade. Mom recently tested positive after first getting a negative result, and she has felt weak at times. Jordan felt sick for a few days. Jordan's two younger siblings, 6-year-old Jada and 4-year-old Julius, have "been themselves the whole time."

Both Alicia Adger and her husband, Julius Adger Jr., live with other health issues, which public health officials have been warning puts

Jordan Adger celebrates her 11th birthday with the help of family and friends during COVID-19. To the left, Mandy Flynn, Jordan's teacher last year, stands in the yard to wish her a happy birthday.

people at risk of suffering more severe complications from the virus.

Julius Adger has diabetes and congestive heart failure. Both parents are unable to work. Alicia Adger has been on full-time disability since March 2016 when she was robbed at gunpoint, fell into depression and has suffered health problems since. She was in the ICU for two weeks in November and has had four surgeries since a crash. "Jordan gets it. She's scared for us," she said. "I feel bad. She's only a child." According to DHEC data as of Aug. 10, 60% of all COVID-19 deaths in the state with available data reported having heart disease, 13% had congestive heart failure, and 47% had diabetes. "I'm maintaining," Alicia Adger said. "I've got to still take care of them."

People are helping. One of the women driving through the parade was Jordan's great-grandmother. Willie Mae Harry usually helps her oldest granddaughter's family with errands. They're a close-knit family. COVID-19 has infected not just these five, but Alicia Adger's father, sister and step-mother also got sick. Two of them just got out of the hospital. "Prayer changes everything. It's a bittersweet thing," Harry said, seeing the birthday girl but not being able to hug her. "They're strong people."

Jordan has had to contend with the virus canceling

her birthday party and every other semblance of regular life. She graduated from Cherryvale Elementary School in the spring. From home. Mandy Flynn, a fifth-grade teacher at Cherryvale, said virtual learning in the spring was tough on her kids. She's been in the district since 2004 and at Cherryvale since 2016. It works for some of her students, she said, but she knows others have had a hard time being home. Not the Adgers, she said. Jordan's parents are "awesome." "When I get on Zoom with my kids, the first thing I do is just ask, 'Do y'all need anything?'" Flynn said. Flynn described Jordan as happy, pleasant and respectful. She loves to learn and has just the right amount of diva in her. Even though Flynn is no longer Jordan's teacher – she's now at Furman Middle School – her surprise appearance at the birthday parade made Jordan more emotional than any other part of the day. As Flynn got out of her car, holding a homemade birthday sign and a package of toilet paper, the birthday girl shrieked and gave her mother something between an extended hug and a squeezing hold, subtly crying as she realized this was all for her.