“What makes me move on is the girls,” Robin Zinsou said through tears.
The girls are for what her 32-year-old daughter, Paige Ruiz, lived through.
Ruiz was an educator and mother. He had a two-and-a-half-year-old daughter named Joanna and was expecting another daughter, Celeste.
“Paige was the life of the party. She had the biggest smile, the biggest personality,” Zinsou told WFAA. “She loved being a mother.”
Ruiz was due to deliver Celeste on July 30, 2021. He tested positive for COVID-19 on July 24, a few days before the due date and days before the CDC and a national OBGYN group strongly recommended vaccination for to pregnant women.
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“I kept asking him, ‘Did you talk to the doctor about the vaccine?’ And he said, “No, mother. I will wait until I have the baby, ”Zinsou recalled.
What started as a cough turned into an emergency room trip and then an emergency cesarean section. Celeste was born a healthy baby.
“She’s so healthy. She’s growing up. She’s just a happy baby,” Zinsou said of her new granddaughter.
Ruiz was able to recover enough to be alert and meet his newborn daughter via video call. However, he soon developed complications from COVID-19.
“He texted me and said,‘ Mom, I’d like to be vaccinated, ’” Zinsou recalled.
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Ruiz died on August 15. He could never stand Celeste.
“As Paige’s mother, it was hard to see her, knowing she couldn’t see her baby,” her mother said.
Days before he died, Ruiz had a purpose and a lesson to share with everyone, according to Zinsou.
“He was texting his friends and sisters and he said,‘ Do you know anyone who isn’t vaccinated? Ask them to get vaccinated. “That’s Paige’s last message.”
According to the CDC, only 22% of pregnant women are vaccinated. More than 600,000 Americans have died from the virus since the pandemic began.
“If you can’t do it for yourself, do it for the people you love,” Zinsou pleaded. “Please. And that’s Paige’s last post.”
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