NewsCoronavirus

Actions

107-year-old woman in Minnesota beats COVID-19

She's also survived 1918 flu pandemic and cancer
tilliedybing.jpg
Posted at 1:51 PM, Dec 16, 2020
and last updated 2020-12-16 13:51:21-05

DETROIT LAKES, Minn. — Tillie Dybing is what many would call a survivor.

At 107, she has survived two pandemics: the 1918 flu pandemic and most recently recovered from a bout with COVID-19. And at 95, she beat cancer.

Since 2015, Dybing has lived at the Ecumen Detroit Lakes community home in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota.

Recently, officials at the community home had two reasons to celebrate Tillie: she turned 107 and also survived her battle with the coronavirus.

"What an amazing story about an amazing woman!" officials from the community home said in a Facebook post. "She is the true definition of #EcumenStrong, and we are so grateful she has chosen us to call home."

In an interview with KARE, Dybing said she was almost five years old when the 1918 flu pandemic struck her family at their North Dakota farm.

She has also endured other hardships, including the loss of several siblings who died in infancy, her husband's passing in her 80s, and surviving uterine cancer at 95, KARE reported.

While battling COVID, Dybing told KARE that the only symptom she suffered from with COVID was fatigue, with her daughter, Susan Berke, saying she "slept all the time."

According to CNN, Dybing quarantined for a few weeks but recently returned to her apartment at Ecumen.