Ky. girl asks for a special gift on 12th birthday

GREENUP COUNTY Ky. (WSAZ) - Since March 2020, 12-year-old Lucy Roy feels her world has stopped.

“We all got quarantined, and we just thought it was the big flu thing, and then it started getting worse and worse,” Lucy said.

In August 2020, Lucy started middle school, but she only went to school her first day, before being switched to virtual.

“I was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m starting middle school’ and then it was COVID and I didn’t even have a normal year, so it was kind of hard to actually learn how to do middle school,” Lucy said.

With school virtual, she couldn’t spend much time with her friends, and Sunday dinners with her grandparents were stopped, as her grandfather is considered high risk.

“They’ll sit on their porch, and we’ll sit in the grass or something and we’ll talk to them and we did that a lot,” she said. “It was really hard for me to not hug him and my mamaw.”

When she heard the COVID-19 vaccine was available earlier this year, she knew she wanted to roll up her sleeve, not only to protect herself but to protect others.

“I was like, ‘Mom when can I get mine’ and she was like, ‘Well you have to be 12′ and I was like oh darn it, I can’t get mine yet,” Lucy said.

About a month before her birthday, she found herself asking for a present she never dreamed of: a COVID-19 vaccine.

She said normally she’d ask for a pool party and a sleepover with friends.

On Aug. 31, her 12th birthday, she got her first shot. She says it’s important to her, especially as more kids her age are testing positive.

“I can go see my grandparents I can go see my whole family without being worried that I’m not protecting them and myself,” she said.

She can also do something she hasn’t for far too long, hug her grandparents.

“We had our masks on and it was just special because we haven’t gotten to do that,” Lucy said.

Lucy attends McKell Middle School in Greenup County and plays volleyball. Due to COVID, games have been canceled, but she says she’s glad to be back in a classroom again.

She hopes now that her whole family is vaccinated, they’ll have Christmas in person this year instead of over Zoom.

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