The New Normal: Life after surviving coronavirus

Seattle grandmother Sadie Pimpleton was hospitalized with COVID-19 and says she saw the end. She’s now back home with her grandkids, finding ways to help others.

Dorothy Edwards

Dorothy Edwards Jun 16, 2025

Jul 6, 2020

Republish Article

You can republish articles in print or online. Simply copy the HTML below, which includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline, and credit to Cascade PBS. Republishing of the photos or videos embedded in an article can occur only if the photo or video is a copyright of Cascade Public Media ("CPM") and not of a third party. Photos and videos that are a copyright of CPM are not required to appear in the republished article, but if they are used, they must be embedded where they appear in the original article and must include the attribution to the CPM photographer.

You may reprint in any medium
You may edit only for tense and timeliness
If republishing in print you can edit for length if you follow our print republishing guidelines.
You may write your own headline
Include a byline and shirttail with credit and link to Cascade PBS
Include our tracking pixel
Remove if we ask

          <article>
            <header>
              <hgroup>
                <h1>The New Normal: Life after surviving coronavirus</h1>
                <h2><p>Seattle grandmother Sadie Pimpleton was hospitalized with COVID-19 and says she saw the end. She’s now back home with her grandkids, finding ways to help others.</p></h2>
              </hgroup>
               <p>By <a href="/author/dorothy-edwards/">Dorothy Edwards</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Jul 6, 2020</time></p>
            </header>
            <p>Sadie Pimpleton is a single grandmother raising her grandchildren in Seattle. She recently survived COVID-19. She spent five days in the hospital and remembers feeling like it was the end for her. She is now back home and adjusting to life in lockdown with her grandkids. She leans on her community of other grandmothers and on her faith for support. The grandmothers group started sewing masks together as a way to cope, by doing something to help others. Pimpleton says things like sewing masks and her church livestreams every Sunday are what get her through each week.</p><hr><p>Support for <em>The New Normal</em> is provided by Comcast. All news stories on Crosscut are controlled by our editorial team. Visit our <a href="https://crosscut.com/about?ref=cascadepbs.org">about us page</a> to learn more about Crosscut's editorial independence policy.</p><hr>
          </article>

Sadie Pimpleton is a single grandmother raising her grandchildren in Seattle. She recently survived COVID-19. She spent five days in the hospital and remembers feeling like it was the end for her. She is now back home and adjusting to life in lockdown with her grandkids. She leans on her community of other grandmothers and on her faith for support. The grandmothers group started sewing masks together as a way to cope, by doing something to help others. Pimpleton says things like sewing masks and her church livestreams every Sunday are what get her through each week.

Support for The New Normal is provided by Comcast. All news stories on Crosscut are controlled by our editorial team. Visit our about us page to learn more about Crosscut's editorial independence policy.

Our members' donations make local journalism happen.

Support once for $1

Support monthly for $7

Cascade PBS Passport
Mossback members-only newsletter
Print Viewer Guide (opt-in)

Support monthly for $25

Invitation to quarterly news and original programming video conference
Annual in-person meet-up with news & programming teams
Special event perks (reduced price or free tickets, cocktails, etc.)

Continue

By Dorothy Edwards

Dorothy Edwards is formerly an associate photo editor&nbsp;at Crosscut. Before Crosscut, she was a staff photojournalist at the Naples Daily News and USA Today Network in Florida.&nbsp;