“She really taught us to just live each day to the fullest, to be positive and to love others,” said Kelly Glenn, Karen Kennedy’s daughter.
LITTLETON, Colo. — Colorado has the worst West Nile virus outbreak in the U.S. this year. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). Colorado has reported 543 cases, including 31 deaths.
The family of 78-year-old Karen Kennedy told 9NEWS she was one of them. Kennedy passed away on September 16, surrounded by her family.
“She taught us to live each day to the fullest and to love others,” said her daughter Kelly Glenn. “We never thought this would be our mom’s story.”
Kennedy will always be remembered as a woman who celebrated her family. Her other daughter, Laura Downey, took a photo of President Kennedy at her granddaughters’ homecoming parade days before her death.
“I never thought that the next time I saw her, she would be completely confused and barely recognize who I was,” Downey said.
Downey found her mother sitting on the couch, confused and not answering the phone. She was rushed to the hospital. Downey said doctors initially thought Kennedy had pneumonia and sepsis.
“And they said they think she may have West Nile virus and brain inflammation from it,” she explained. “This is a woman who’s been around for less than a week. We’ve been going to lunches and parades and now she’s being told she can’t go. So we’re at a point in our lives where we’re taking her away.” “I had to make the most difficult decision about life support,” Downey added as she began to cry.
Colorado has the highest number of cases in the nation so far this year. In fact, Colorado has more than twice as many cases as the second-place state, California, with 156 cases. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nationwide, there have been 1,419 cases of West Nile virus infection in 44 states.
“I was shocked because I didn’t know mosquitoes could be this powerful,” Glenn explained. “So it’s important to let people know this is happening, even if it’s just one person.”
Karen was a cancer survivor. She has also been able to watch her grandchildren grow, and the walls of her garage have been covered in height marks over the past few decades. While her absence may hurt, her family hopes it will be meaningful to others.
“She was a nurse and was very interested in health care,” Downey said. “So she wants people to know, she wants my story to do something for other people,” Glenn added.
“Maybe some people will hear this story and put on their mosquito spray and take this seriously, because our mom was the victim,” Downey said. I continued crying.
Despite decades of research, there is still no cure for West Nile virus. Doctors can treat some of the symptoms, but there is no way to reverse the virus. There is also no vaccine to protect against the virus in humans.
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