Once COVID-19 skeptics, local couple changes view on vaccine after battling infection

Entire Fort Bend Co. family infected with COVID shares story

A Fort Bend County family who was infected with COVID-19 is sharing their story in hopes that other families won't share their experience.

HOUSTON - The nightmare for Lee Ramos and his family began about a week ago.

In the middle of the night, Lee, a healthy 30-year-old, was having severe chest pain.

"It would just like feel like something was closing in on me and squishing my chest like I really couldn't breathe," Lee recalled.

He ended up at Memorial Hermann Pearland.

"I stayed there overnight and then in the morning, they told me I'm positive for [COVID-19]," Lee told FOX 26. He added he never thought he would get COVID-19, and at one point, believed it was a myth.

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Lee and his wife, Katelyn Banuelos, believe the virus spread at a family gathering. About a dozen family members have tested positive, including Katelyn and their 8-month-old twin girls.

"At night time it tends to get worse, where I get like real bad body aches, like not even being able to move or get up to grab the babies or make them a bottle. Fever's been like 102 to 103, even taking medicine. So, it's not a good feeling," Katelyn described.

The babies, they say, are experiencing fever and diarrhea.

"Imagine how it hits us that we're adults? You don't know how they're feeling because they're babies. They can't talk," Katelyn stressed.

The couple says two elderly family members are among those who are infected but they are both vaccinated and appear to have mild symptoms.

"They didn't really get hit as much like we did," Lee noted.

Now, Lee says he hopes they'll going to get the vaccine.

"I did tell Katelyn like, you know, what after this, once we get negative [tests], let's go do it for the sake of our kids, my grandma. Maybe it will avoid us catching it again," he emphasized.

Katelyn hopes their story will encourage others to get the vaccine and mask up too.

"For anyone asking when will this end, the answer is simple. When we decide to do what it takes. I am pleading with everyone who is not vaccinated and is of age to make the decision today to get vaccinated. Don't let misinformation keep you from protecting yourself and your loved ones. I wouldn't want to see anyone else in this situation, like us, especially going through what we're going through with our babies," she said.

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