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The 15-year-old Kentucky girl, born with Down syndrome, was diagnosed with leukemia in July 2019 and weeks later went into remission.
She’s just the kind of person she was, the governor said. She never let anything stop her from accomplishing what she had decided.
Alexa succumbed to Covid-19 on November 15.
To her friends, she was known as a “social butterfly” with “an infectious smile that could brighten up any day,” according to Travis Holder, director of emergency management for Ballard County.
But on Halloween week, Alexa started to feel sick and asked her mom to pick her up from school. The two were diagnosed with Covid-19 within days.
Her mother was hospitalized and placed on a ventilator, Holder said, while Alexa initially had mild symptoms and stayed at home. Meanwhile, the teenager’s grandparents have also tested positive for the virus and have been hospitalized, Holder said.
“As the days went by, Alexa started to feel a little worse every day and was eventually hospitalized due to Covid-19 and the development of pneumonia,” Holder added.
She was airlifted to Nashville to be in the care of her usual doctors, where her older sister – who had also recently recovered from Covid-19 – stayed by her side. Alexa’s health declined and she was quickly put on a ventilator, Holder said.
On November 15, a day after her mother was released from a Kentucky hospital and rushed to her daughter’s side, Alexa passed away.
“Alexa was and still is a beautiful child of God and I know people who admired her, people whose children admired her,” said the governor. “For the positivity, enthusiasm and advocacy she brought.”
“It’s a big loss for this community.”
“We have to realize this is real,” Holder wrote. “It’s not political, it’s not something that ‘has always been here’, it’s real. We have to start taking precautions seriously.”
The governor, who this week announced new measures to help curb the spread of the virus, said on Thursday the state had the most daily Covid-19 cases it has ever reported, with more than 3600. The state’s highest five days for new cases, he said, all occurred in the past week.
“Those who knew Alexa asked us to help raise awareness of the seriousness of this virus and the importance of following the guidelines in place,” Beshear said at the press conference.
“Today and everyday, I will be wearing my mask for Alexa, and I hope you will too.”
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