UNION, Ky. — Rachel Haley says it was hard to believe at first.

“You know when you first hear about it, you don’t think much more than, I didn’t think much more than the flu, a bad flu,” Haley said.

It was late March, Haley said they all started getting sick which includes her mom and dad, her husband, and her three children.

“My father, especially with his COPD, had a lot of breathing issues was not really coherent and his temperature has spiked to 103 (degrees),” Haley said.

The mother said on March 8, she lost her nephew and believes at the funeral is when they caught the coronavirus.

“We were weak, some of us were coughing, we had a lot of burning in our chest headaches,” Haley said.

The symptoms got progressively worse, especially for her 70-year-old father who has underlying issues. As a result, they admitted him into the hospital and he tested positive for COVID-19.

“He’s been in the ICU for 36 days,” Haly said. She explained because there’s one positive member, the whole family was under quarantine battling their symptoms. 

“To tell your children, not long after you told them their cousin had passed to tell them that their grandfather may pass...that was so hard. It’s not something you want to think about or try to think about especially losing a parent, it’s devastating,” Haley said.

Her daughter, Kylei Kreisa, says at first she was in denial.

“I did a lot of pretending that it wasn’t happening until it started getting really bad and then you realize ‘oh crap’, this is real, this isn’t like, this is actually happening, he’s actually, he could die and when it hits you like I said it becomes real once affects you,” Kreisa said.

The 17-year-old senior said seeing her grandfather in the middle of his battle in this situation wasn’t easy.

“It broke my heart. We would facetime him and he looked so lifeless it was like we’re talking to you but are we really talking to you are we talking at you,” Kreisa said.

This week their questions were resolved. Haley said her father is out of the ICU and has tested negative for the virus.

“We’ve gotten through it and I can see we’re finally seeing that light at the end of the tunnel. We can see that he’s actually coming home. It isn’t like you’re hoping for it to happen, it’s happening,” Kreisa said.

For this family, hope has become a reality.

Haley said by sometime in the next two weeks, her father can return home for proper care.