FLORENCE, Ky. -- Lori Ann Hornsby was a wife and a mother of a 16-year-old son.
Hornsby's husband, Michael, says he took his wife to the hospital after she began coughing up blood and running a temperature.
Michael says she was sent home with medication, but when her symptoms got worse, she was rushed back to the hospital.
He says she stayed at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Florence for two-and-a-half weeks before losing her life Tuesday from the H1N1 flu.
Michael was by her side when her life came to an end.
"Leaned her head back. I guess [they] put the ventilator in her throat. And she was still awake. And we still seen each other’s eyes,” Michael said. “And that's probably the last thing I'm ever going to remember. And then she closed her eyes and never opened them again."
But family members are choosing to remember the good times they shared with Hornsby, a woman they say was the foundation of their household.
"We played board games sometimes. And we would play on the computer together and play the Facebook games," said Hornsby's 16-year-old son, Tyler. “And we just spend time together whenever we could.”
"She's definitely a beacon of hope and happiness," Michael said. “Very smart. Made my life happy.”
Hornsby's memorial will be held at the Stith Funeral Home on Highway 42 in Florence Sunday at 1:30 p.m.
Family and friends are planning to hold a benefit December 4 at the Bulldog Roadhouse in Independence, Ky. It starts at 7 p.m.
Donations can also be made in her name at any Bank of Kentucky branch location.
