Dallas woman hopes her mother's battle with COVID-19 serves as a warning to other African Americans

DALLAS - A Dallas woman has a message for the African American community after her mother contracted COVID-19 and spent a month and half in the hospital battling life threatening complications.

The last time Dee Rias saw her mother, Mary Price, in person was late October.

COVID restrictions kept a pane of glass between them at the Balch Springs nursing home where 66-year-old Price is undergoing rehab, but they said the experience still felt heaven sent.

"I’m almost on my way home. I have a few more things to go through," Price said.

It’s been an incredible turnaround, considering where she’d been.

A week after her COVID diagnosis in early November, Price was admitted to the hospital, beginning a long, painful journey.

"I received a phone call from my mom and she said, ‘Dee get here at Baylor, they’re taking me down to ICU,’" Rias recalled.

Price spent 45 days hospitalized at Baylor Scott & White in Dallas, with 19 of them in ICU.

Complications, like blood clots, kidney failure, and heart failure nearly took her life.

But Rias said doctors and nurses worked tirelessly, never giving up.

And she wants others in the African American community who may feel distrust or apprehension about getting medical treatment to hear her story.

"We feel when you go into the hospital, we just don’t get the support like the other races, but I’m here to tell you, my mom is retired, she has limited income, and those doctors and nurses did an amazing job," Rias said. 

Once released to rehab, Price got the COVID vaccine, experiencing no side effects. 

"Everybody needs to get a COVID shot. I had both of my shots, it’s not a problem," Price said. 

Rias says there’s an important message here too for the African American community, so others don’t have the same brush with death as her mom. 

"Get vaccinated, we have to, we need to," Rias said. "Listen to the medical experts, what they are telling us to do."