Henry County teacher dies from COVID-19 months after getting vaccine
HENRY COUNTY, Va. (WSET) — A husband is mourning the loss of his wife after she died from COVID-19. Randy Ferguson says it'll be hard to imagine a life without his soulmate, Amy.
"It's hard, of course," he said. "We were married for 32 years and dated four years before that. So that's over half my life, well over half my life."
Amy was a math teacher at Fieldale-Collinsville Middle School. She worked at Henry County Public Schools for more than three decades.
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Randy says both got the COVID-19 vaccine months ago. For Amy, her annual girls' trip to Florida was the start of getting back to normal. He says she and her friends went to Orlando at the end of June.
A few days before the trip, she got sick. Doctors treated her for a sinus infection but she still felt sick on the trip. While in Florida, he says she tested positive for COVID-19.
"I went down Monday with the intention of picking her up, letting her stay a couple more days in the hospital, whatever they needed," he said.
Unfortunately, he ended up staying 10 days in the hospital at her bedside. Randy says it was a rollercoaster of emotions.
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"We'd have good news and then we'd have not-so-good news, and we'd have good and then not-so-good, and eventually it got to where it wasn't so good," Randy said.
Randy says eventually doctors admitted her into the ICU and put her on a ventilator. She passed away on July 9. Randy says he'll always remember the love of his life and the impact she left on students in Henry County.
"Not all of them liked her but all of them respected her. And she taught them not just math, she taught them to grow up and be mature and responsible," Randy said.
Randy says doctors told him Amy's rheumatoid arthritis medication could have played a role in weakening the vaccine.
Amy's doctor was unavailable for comment.
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Information on the CDC's website says,
If you have a condition or are taking medications that weaken your immune system, you may not be fully protected even if you are fully vaccinated.
Randy Ferguson says he doesn’t want Amy’s story to discourage those with underlying conditions from getting the vaccine. The CDC says you may need to continue taking precautions after getting a vaccine, like wearing a mask and keeping your distance.
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