“It’s the girls who keep me going,” Robin Zinsu said in tears.
These girls are the life goals of her 32-year-old daughter Paige Ruiz.
Ruiz is an educator and a mother. She has a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter named Joanna, who is expecting another daughter, Celeste.
“Paige is the life of the party. She has the biggest smile and the biggest personality,” Zinsou told WFAA“She likes to be a mother.”
Ruiz was originally scheduled to give birth to Celeste on July 30, 2021. She tested positive for COVID-19 on July 24. Just a few days before her due date and a few days before the CDC, a national team of obstetricians and gynecologists strongly recommended vaccination for pregnant women.
related: CDC urges all pregnant women to get COVID-19 vaccine
“I kept asking her,’Did you talk to the doctor about vaccination?’ She said,’No, Mom. I will wait until after I have given birth,'” Zinsou recalled.
The first cough turned into an emergency room, and then an emergency cesarean section. Celeste was born a healthy baby.
“She is very healthy. She is growing. She is just a happy little baby,” Zinsou said of her new granddaughter.
Ruiz recovered enough to be awake enough to meet his newborn daughter via video call. However, she soon developed COVID-19 complications.
“She texted me and said,’Mom, I wish I was vaccinated,'” Zinsou recalled.
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Ruiz died on August 15. She was still unable to hold little Celeste.
“As Paige’s mother, it’s hard to see her because she knows she can’t see her children,” her mother said.
According to Zinsou, Ruiz had a goal and a lesson to share with everyone a few days before her death.
“She texted her friends and sisters and said,’Do you know anyone who has not been vaccinated? Ask them to get vaccinated.’ This is Page’s last message.”
According to the CDC, only 22% of pregnant women are vaccinated. Since the pandemic began, more than 600,000 Americans have died from the virus.
“If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for the one you love,” Zinsou pleaded. “Please. This is Page’s last message.”
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