DETROIT – A family is relieved after a 99-year-old grandmother as reunited with her granddaughter Saturday after they both beat COVID-19.
Updated April 18 -- Michigan coronavirus (COVID-19) cases up to 30,791; Death toll now at 2,308 with 3,237 recoveries reported
The women are a force to be reckoned with. Both were considered high-risk patients after being diagnosed with coronavirus.
Jeff Lewis and Jacqui Lewis-Kemp were heartbroken they couldn’t be with their grandmother when she was diagnosed.
Lillian Clark was admitted to Beaumont Royal Oak Hospital.
“The thing that frightened me the most was her age," Jeff Lewis said. "She was at the absolute highest risk”
Granny, as her family calls her, not only survived breast cancer, the great-great-grandmother also beat COVID-19.
“She’s too strong and she proved us right,” Jeff Lewis said.
Her remarkable recovery is a triumph and her granddaughter’s is a miraculous repeat. In 2002, Jacquie Lewis-Kemp survived West Nile Virus. When she needed a kidney, her brother Jeff donated his. She later needed a pancreas before she caught coronavius.
“When I finally got the diagnosis, it was surreal," Jacquie Lewis-Kemp said.
She recovered and got back to work. Her and her husband own a funeral home is Southfield and they’ve never been busier.
“It almost feels like the book ‘The Invisible Man,’ because many people are not seeing what’s happening because it not happening to them or their neighbor,” Jacquie Lewis-Kemp said.
After weeks of uncertainty, the Lewis family had reason to celebrate Saturday when the two were reunited. The family made sure to maintain a safe distance.
“The key for me is, yeah, this is big and scary and there are lots of negative stories, but don’t lose hope,” Jeff Lewis said.
Anyone who believes they might have coronavirus should follow the CDC guidelines. Michigan.gov has a list of resources available to those concerned about COVID-19.
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