HOPKINS COUNTY, Ky. (WFIE/CNN) – Health experts say senior citizens are at higher risk for the coronavirus but don’t say that to a 103-year-old woman in Kentucky.
"I was so sick, I thought I was going to die. But the good Lord took care of me, everybody was praying for me, and it just wasn't my time,” Virginia Harris said.
Virginia was diagnosed with COVID-19 in mid-March.
"It's just heart-wrenching. To know she was going to be in there and do this on her own," Virginia’s daughter-in-law Jayne Harris said.
An aggressive fever and nausea, her family says there were no signs of respiratory issues so coronavirus seemed to be out of the question.
"We got the results back about five days later and they were positive. At that point, we were very, very distraught, upset,” Virginia’s grandson Adam Harris said.
Virginia’s granddaughter said she’s the backbone of their family, a grandmother to three and great grandmother to six.
"She makes everyone in the room feel like they're the only person. That they're the most important person in the world,” Christine Peyton said.
Some would say Virginia’s love for her family and her faith helped her fight through but she gives credit to many.
"My temperature was high and my blood pressure was low and they couldn't get it fixed,” she said. "But they worked with me and worked with me and until they finally put me on the IV. And I've made it. It took me a while to make it. But I did the best I could."
Virginia’s family is more hopeful than ever before.
"If she could get through it at 103, you would feel most people can get through it if they took care of themselves and did what they're supposed to do,” Virginia’s son Doug Harris said.
Virginia’s family said they can’t wait to see her again when this is all over.
"I'm just going to be so glad when I get to hug her again,” Peyton said.
