A Virginia couple died of COVID-19 two weeks apart, leaving behind 5 children and a grandchild, the New York Daily News reports.
The high-school sweethearts—Kevin Mitchem, 48, and Misty Mitchem, 46—first saw the virus enter their household when Kevin developed a cough. He treated it medicine, before ultimately testing positive for COVID-19. Missy’s health then quickly declined and she died on the day Kevin was hospitalized, according to The Free Lance-Star.
Misty Mitchem, who was diabetic, was intubated on Sept. 22, as her kidneys were functioning at 50%. She died on Sept. 23.
Kevin—who worked in the construction trade—then died two weeks later on Oct. 8. Their children include Riley, 17; Leah, 14, and 11-year-old twins Taylor and Aiden, as well as Kevin’s 22-year-old daughter Angel and her 2-year-old son Lincoln. Kevin’s brother, Mike Mitchem, told People that Kevin had asked for the shot at the end of his battle but it was too late.
He also said he asked his brother to get vaccinated, but he refused. “His response to me was to show different memes and stuff that he found on Facebook. He believed all that to be gospel truth, and I could not change his mind,” he said.
Before he died, Kevin reportedly told his mother he was sorry he hadn’t gotten vaccinated.
“He called me up and said, ‘Mom, I love you, and I wish that I’d got the shot,’” Terry Mitchem told Washington DC’s NBC 4.
The children are now living with an aunt and uncle in South Carolina, as Mike says both families have been “turned upside down.”
