An unvaccinated couple in Virginia died of COVID-19 weeks apart, leaving their five children.
According to Oregon Live, Kevin Mitchem, 48 died of COVID-19 this week, two weeks after his wife Misty Mitchem died from the virus.
Kevin developed a cough last month and visited an urgent care center in Stafford, Va. where he was given cold medicine and sent home. When his cough lingered, he went back to the center where he was tested for COVID. The test came back positive. He was sent home and told to rest.
Around that time Misty, who was a 46-year-old diabetic, started to feel sick. Her symptoms progressed quickly. She was rushed to the hospital and placed on a ventilator. It was only a few days between when her first symptoms appeared that she died on Sept. 23.
That same day Kevin was hospitalized. He was an active and healthy person, according to his brother, Mike Mitchem.
“He worked construction,” Mitchem said. “When he wasn’t working, he was cutting grass with my dad or going around picking up scrap metal to make a little extra money.”
“He never smoked, never drank, didn’t do drugs, didn’t have diabetes, wasn’t overweight, was a heavy equipment operator, did a lot of highway work,” Mitchem added.
The disease progressed slower in Kevin and at one point the family thought he was getting better. They later learned that the virus had permanently damaged his lungs. He died on Oct. 8.
Mike Mitchem told the Free Lance-Star that they were not vaccinated even though family members who took the vaccine encouraged them to do so.
“They’d just been leery. They were going off what they’ve been hearing and reading on the internet,” he said.
In the end, Mike said his brother was remorseful and called their mother to tell her he loved her and was sorry he hadn’t gotten vaccinated.
They leave behind five children and one grandchild. The four youngest children, Riley, 17; Leah, 14, and twins Taylor and Aiden, 11, live with a relative in South Carolina. The fifth child, Angel is 22 and has a son, Lincoln, who will turn 2 in November.
The family has set up a GoFundMe to help with expenses for the children.
