BALLARD COUNTY, Ky. (WFLA) — A Kentucky county is mourning the loss of Alexa Rose Veit, a girl with a fighting spirit who recently died of COVID-19. The 15-year-old born with special needs was diagnosed with leukemia in July 2019 and, just weeks later, went into remission.
Ballard County emergency officials say Alexa was at school on Oct. 26 and wasn’t feeling well, so her mother came to get her and took her to have a routine COVID-19 test due to a planned procedure in the next few days. The next day, while awaiting the results of Alexa’s test, her mother began to feel bad as well and got tested for COVID-19.
The testing showed Alexa and her mother had COVID-19.
Her mother was hospitalized and placed on a ventilator, Ballard County Emergency Management Director Travis Holder said, while Alexa at first showed mild symptoms and stayed at home. During that time, the teen’s grandparents also tested positive for the virus and were hospitalized, he said.
“As the days went on, Alexa began to feel a little worse each day and was eventually hospitalized due to COVID-19 and the development of pneumonia,” Holder added.
Alexa was flown to Nashville to be under the care of her regular doctors. Her older sister, who also had recently recovered from COVID-19, remained by her side. Alexa’s health declined, and she was soon placed on a ventilator, Holder said.
On Nov. 15, a day after her mother was released from a Kentucky hospital, Alexa died.
To friends, she was known as a “social butterfly” with “an infectious smile that could brighten any day,” Holder said.
“She was a freshman at Ballard Memorial High School, a member of the choir, an active member of her church youth group and (thoroughly) enjoyed time with her family and friends,” Holder wrote in a Facebook post.