A 15-year-old Kentucky girl with Down syndrome survived a battle with leukemia last year. But the brave “social butterfly” couldn’t beat COVID-19—she died of the virus earlier this week, according to Ballard County Emergency Management. Alexa Rose Veit was diagnosed after feeling ill at school on Oct. 26; her mother and her grandparents also got infected and were hospitalized, too. “Alexas's health continued to decline and was eventually placed on a ventilator to help her breathe. It was then determined that the doctors had done all that they could do for Alexa, and the decision was made that they needed to get her mother to Nashville,” agency director Travis Holder wrote in a Facebook post. “On Saturday the 14th Alexa’s mother was released from the hospital in Paducah and rushed to Nashville to be by Alexa’s side. On Sunday, November 15h, 2020 Alexa was called home to be with the Lord.”

Holder said he was sharing Alexa’s story in the hopes of convincing local residents to take precautions. “I ask you even though you may not like masks or think that they don’t work to wear one. Wear it out of respect for your fellow Ballard Countians that can’t take the risk of catching this virus,” he wrote.