DALLAS _ Kiara Hearn stood in her kitchen using all of her strength to slice a Gala apple.
The 29-year-old couldn't do it.
Hearn told her mom _ with whom she lives and was awaiting results from a coronavirus test she had taken days earlier _ that she needed to go to the hospital.
Struggling to breathe, the Irving resident dropped her knife and drove 15 minutes to Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. Burning with fever, she couldn't remember when she had last combed her hair or brushed her teeth.
She parked her car near the emergency room on March 26 and gasped for oxygen the entire walk to the front door. She was out of breath by the time she reached the lobby.
A nurse took Hearn's vitals and swiftly moved her to a makeshift emergency room reserved for patients believed to be suffering from the virus. They ran more tests. Hearn was placed on an IV and breathing machine.
She wouldn't breathe on her own for nearly two weeks.
Hearn is one of the thousands of Dallas County residents who have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus making its way around the world.
In 2018, Hearn, who is black, was diagnosed with lupus, an autoimmune disease that causes the body to attack healthy tissues. Earlier this year, she got more bad news: She was suffering from a paralyzing shingles outbreak.
While most infected with the coronavirus suffer only minor symptoms, it is especially cruel to those living with underlying medical conditions such as diabetes and hypertension. And data suggests it has disproportionately killed black Americans. For instance, one federal report found that black residents of New York City died at twice the rate of their white peers.
Despite a long history of racial inequities, it appears the virus is so far afflicting residents here proportionally. About 21% of all COVID-19 patients hospitalized have been black, according to data released by the Dallas County Health Department on Friday. And so far, 23%% of all COVID-19 deaths have been among black residents in a county where they make up a little less than a quarter of its population.
However, it's unclear how deep the virus is penetrating communities here because in more than half of the total confirmed cases, no racial or ethnic data is available.
Hearn's story is both emblematic of how the virus is wreaking havoc on Americans and a unique tale of how a woman who came close to dying was brought back, aided by a cache of medical doctors and an experimental treatment.
"Have I cheated death?" Hearn asked. "Why am I alive? It's the power of prayer and good intentions from all the support team around me."
