They left their children to fight a pandemic with no end. Would they do it again?

They begged Christine Haines not to go. First her father, who tried reason.

"You have two small children," he pleaded. "What happens if you die?"

Then Christine's daughter, whose sobs appealed to that elemental place inside her. 

"Please don't go mommy," she cried. "I don't want you to go. Please don't get sick."  

Christine's mother knew better. She said nothing. She wore dread on her face.

In March 2020, Christine and her husband Lawrence Haines, both ER physicians in New York City, were on a family vacation in Florida when they saw COVID-19 tear through their city with terrifying ferocity. Early in 2020, New York had the nation's largest number of cumulative cases.