Haley Langmeyer fought bravely for nearly two months.

But on May 12, the 22-year-old Monroe native lost the battle against COVID-19. 

Haley's mother Laurel Langmeyer works as a nutritionist at Beaumont Hospital in Trenton. She has been caring for COVID patients since the beginning of the pandemic, but never thought her daughter would be in that position. 

Haley is a licensed beautician who loves skin care, makeup and performing arts. She just moved into her place with two friends. 

After one of her roommates contracted the virus, it quickly spread to everyone in the family and to four other people who had been in close contact. 

Laurel said her daughter was worried, but she felt good at first. When Hayley started to have difficulty breathing, she was taken to Beaumont Trenton Hospital where her mother worked.

"I always tell her, if you get to the point where you can't breathe, you need to say something," Laurel said. "She was admitted to the ICU because her oxygen saturation dropped to 70%, which should be 100."

Hailey's condition deteriorated rapidly, and a few days later she was put on a ventilator. 

Rebecca Humble is a respiratory therapist at Beaumont Trenton and a long-time colleague of Laurel. Her team works tirelessly to take care of Haley. Humble said that after using the ventilator for a week, Haley's condition has not improved. The next step is to try a process called Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO). 

"We chose to try ECMO, and the University of Michigan provided this service, so she was transferred out," Humble said. "So her blood is filtered through a machine, and when it is filtered through the machine and returned to her body, it helps to provide oxygen."

Haley stayed at the University of Michigan Hospital for another six weeks, but her condition continued to deteriorate.

"Her kidney failed, so she underwent dialysis, her blood sugar was out of control, and almost everything started to fail. When you have multiple organ failures, the more organs that fail, the higher the death rate. Even Neither ventilators nor ECMO can maintain oxygen levels above 80%," Laurel said. "At that time we knew she didn't want to live like that."

Laurel said that once they realized that there was nothing they could do to save Hailey, they decided to stop all radical measures. Although Haley still took sedatives to avoid any discomfort, Laurel said they reduced the dose of sedatives so that Haley was able to recognize her mother when she walked into the room.

"We were not allowed to see her until the day before she died. They reduced the sedative enough and she smiled a little when I walked in," Laurel said. "We are all by her bed, we can only hold her hand and talk to her."

Hayley passed a few minutes after the ECMO machine shut down. 

Laurel said that her daughter was eager to get the vaccine, but because Hailey did not have a previous illness, her age group was not eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine when she fell ill in March. The first dose of vaccine is reserved for healthcare workers, the elderly, and people with health problems. Young, healthy adults will not be eligible until April 5th.

Laurel knew that some people were hesitant to get vaccinated, but encouraged everyone to do the same.

"A lot of people say they don't want to get an injection because they are afraid, or they think they won't get sick," Laurel said. "It may not make you sick, but it may make other people sick."

Laurel added that everyone should work harder to protect themselves, as well as those around them. 

"You don't know how this disease affects anyone," Laurel said. "Of the six or seven people in her group who got it, a few got better within a few days, some took two weeks, and then Haley died. You just don't know."

Laurel and her colleague Humble continue to care about those who are fighting this virus every day. Laurel said that since the beginning of the pandemic, the most difficult part of her job is to ensure that every patient who uses a ventilator gets proper nutrition. She said that the formula is constantly changing.

Humble said that she and her team worked together for a long time to meet their needs. At the beginning of the pandemic, Humble said her team ran 40 ventilators at a time, almost twice the number they normally operate.

"Our respiratory therapists working across the country are on the front line, and we are helping to fight for every patient," Humble said. "This is a real disease, not a fake. I know that vaccination is a personal decision, but I hope everyone makes the decision to vaccinate... If it can't be cured, it will at least help control it."