https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/anti-vaxxer-turns-vaccine-advocate-after-husband-dies-from-covid-19/2709975/
Anti-Vaxxer Turns Vaccine Advocate After Husband Dies From COVID-19
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Christina Lowe, 32, lost the love of her life and father to her children to COVID-19 less than a week ago.
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It’s a death she now believes was preventable.
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"I ust always thought it’s never going to happen to us,” Lowe said. “It can’thappen to us. We’re young, we’re healthy. And then it did happen to us, andthen you start playing the regret game."
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Lowe and her husband Mikel were both adamantly against the COVID vaccine -- that is, until he lay dying in a hospital bed.
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Mikel served as a federal firefighter, working out of the Naval Air Station Base in Coronado until just a few months ago.
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She says they had friends who got the virus but only suffered minor symptoms, so as a young, healthy couple, they figured they were fine.
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Then Mikel got sick and his symptoms were anything but minor.
"I went upstairs to check on him and his face was purple and blue,” Lowe said. “He was struggling to breathe on oxygen."
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Mikel died from COVID on Aug. 29 at just 38 years old.
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Before his death, Lowe says her husband promised to get the vaccine should he survive. He also urged Christina to get the shot. She later learned her injection was mere minutes before his time of death.
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She says she now lies awake at night wondering what if, and worrying about the future of the family Mikel left behind.
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"We have two boys,” she said. “They are 5 and 6 and they are now without their father. nd it’s just absolutely heartbreaking for all of us."
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“LikeI said, it might be political. But your life isn’t worth that," she said. "Your life isn’t worth thinking this is because of the president, or this s because of the governor. Because once you’re gone, none of that matters."
