The world’s oldest person who survived COVID has posted a message to say when close to death, life has more meaning, as she celebrated her 117th birthday.
Former nurse Maria Branyas Morera, who has lived in Spain’s Catalonia since she was eight, was born in San Franciso, USA, in 1907.
She has held the Guinness World Record for being the world’s oldest person since January last year.
Maria marked her birthday on 4th March 2024 at her home in Santa Maria del Tura d’Olot in Girona, in north-eastern Spain.
She has lived through world wars, dictators, and she even survived coronavirus at the age of 113, in May 2020, when she was already the oldest woman in Spain.
Maria was born in California and has lived in Texas, and in New Orleans, where her father worked as a journalist, before he took the family to Spain.
She even has 16,000 followers on X, formerly Twitter, where she talks about her life and experiences.
Maria has lived at the same nursing home for 23 years and she said of her big day: “Good morning, world. Today I turn 117 years old. I have come this far.”
She included in the tweet a phrase from Pere Casaldaliga, a Spanish-born Brazilian Catholic who fought for indigenous rights: “Old age is a kind of sacrament. You lose hearing, but you feel more because you listen to life, not noises… In the light of death, life takes on a specific, more definitive weight.”
The care home where she spent her birthday said: “She is very grateful for the congratulations received and the interest that so many people have shown in her state of health.
“She is happy to be able to celebrate this special day with her family and colleagues in privacy and wishes everyone a happy Monday.”
Maria married traumatologist Joan Moret and worked as a nurse during the Spanish Civil War (1936 to 1939), which saw the dictator Franco rise to power.
She worked as a nurse until her husband’s death in 1976.
She had three children and has 11 grandchildren.
Maria officially became the world’s oldest person in 2023 after her predecessor, the Frenchwoman Lucile Randon, died at the age of 118 years old.
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Story By: Joseph Golder, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
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