A 35-year-old father of two in Alabama has succumbed to a coronavirus variant first identified in the UK, his wife said.
Alfonzia Jackson Jr. died on February 2, less than a month after being taken to UAB Hospital in Birmingham after experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, namely shortness of breath and fever, according to a GoFundMe post in his name.
After being admitted to the hospital, the 35-year-old’s heart began to weaken, leading him to emergency surgery, his wife, Ashley Jackson, wrote. He later needed extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, also known as extracorporeal life support, as well as a ventilator. His condition could not improve and Jackson lost his battle with the virus on Tuesday.
Jackson’s wife claims she was contacted by the Jefferson County Department of Health that her husband tested positive for the B.1.1.7 variant that was first identified in the UK late last year. She told the local news station WBRC that she was not sure how her husband had contracted the variant.
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“My husband just went to work and went home. There is a filling station here and there. Nothing like going out and having a good time – just a hard-working man,” she said.
In a Facebook post announcing her husband’s death, Ashley Jackson calls her husband of almost eight years a ‘wonderful father’.
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“Lord this day has been difficult,” she began. “I would not wish it on anyone when I said goodbye to my amazing husband.”
“I was reminded of the day I said, and we promised to spend the rest of our lives together. Who knew it would be almost 7? [years] later it would say goodbye to you. Lord knows it’s so hard for me, “she said. Our girls are really going to miss you, you were a wonderful father and I will keep your memory alive through them and they will always remember you. ”