KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Vickie Arrowood's 29-year-old daughter Ashley is working her way through nursing school and answered the call to help treat COVID-19 patients in St. Louis.
"She felt that that was something she needed to go do and she wanted to do it. She's headstrong she does what she wants to do," Vickie told 41 Action News.
When Ashley came home earlier this month, she fell ill.
"She came home and started asking if her lips are blue. And I said, yeah, they do have a blue tinge to it. And that's when she went to the hospital. And that's when she was admitted," Vickie explained.
Ashley contracted COVID-19 and has been on a ventilator for more than a week. Vickie has been in quarantine, too - she tested positive for the virus and hasn't been to see her daughter since she was hospitalized.
"She still is at home with me. It's been her and I since her dad died. Her dad died when she was 10. And it's just her and I and I can't go see her. I can't, can't you know pat on the arm or anything or let her know that I'm there. So that's, that's the bad part," the mother explained.
Family and friends have rallied to the Arrowood's side - raising more than $18,000 on a GoFundMe page, and doing much more.
"I've had friends and family bring food over and sit out on the steps for me. I've had family and friends bring dog food and cat food and sit out on the front steps for me and just the outpouring, it's just been amazing," Vickie said.
Vickie knows Ashley has a long road ahead and is looking forward to seeing her go back to nursing, working in a specialty that honors Ashley's late father.
"He was in need of a kidney transplant too. And that's, that's something she wanted to do was she worked with kidney transplants. That was what she wanted to do and her goal…she wants to be one of the nurses that goes and procure organs. She wants to be able to do stuff like that," she said.
