An Iowa school board candidate’s 51-year-old wife died on Friday from COVID-19, reports the Des Moines Register. Renee Murphy, a teacher at the Ankeny Leadership Institute, had been battling the virus since early September. She chose not to get the COVID-19 vaccine because she was worried that it might compromise her one kidney left due to kidney cancer, her husband, Trent Murphy, said. “We talked about it, we discussed it, we had done all that,” said her husband. She ultimately “wasn’t ready to get the vaccine,” he added. Medical experts have recommended COVID vaccines for patients with kidney diseases, saying there is no evidence the shots have adverse effects on kidney function. Trent Murphy said he’s vaccinated and is planning on getting a booster once he is eligible.

Murphy is running for the Ankeny Community School Board and has said he would prefer to leave the issue of masks in schools to parents. He has promised to stay in the race despite his wife’s tragic passing. “If I dropped out, I would have an angel on my back, not very happy,” he said. “I want to do the best I can, and that’s what I signed up for, win or lose.”