VICTORIA’S oldest COVID-19 survivor Marianne Schwarz, who also survived the Holocaust, remains resolute to keep doing the things she loves as long as she can. This included walking a full 6.3-kilometre lap of Lake Wendouree on Sunday, which the 98-year-old completed with a warm hot drink lakeside.
And Ms Schwarz was back playing table tennis in Melbourne on Monday morning.
Karin Zafir said her aunt was impressed with the begonia displays at Ballarat Botanical Gardens in the weekend stay and loved the walk by the lake, if not for the cold and wind that chilled her fingers.
Ms Schwarz travelled to Ballarat with Melbourne-based Jewish community service organisation B’nai B’rith largely to mark the 160th celebrations for the city’s Jewish synangogue, which is the oldest active shule on the Australian mainland.
While Ms Schwarz does not typically use her walker, she brought it to Ballarat because she wanted to do plenty of exploring, including a heritage walking tour.
Her lap of the lake was coincidentally after the Ballarat Cycle Classic’s big lake walk and rides on Sunday.
This comes about six months after Ms Schwarz was released from Cabrini hospital having survived the deadly coronavirus.
Ms Schwarz had been in hospital for more than a month after falling ill in Melbourne’s second wave. Her hospital stay included two weeks living on oxygen.
She celebrated her 98th birthday days after arriving home.
Read the article by Melanie Whelan in The Courier.