Country singer Jimmie Allen and his wife Alexis are opening up about their one-year-old daughter Zara James’ battle with RSV weeks after she was born in October 2021, when she eventually “went completely blue.”
RSV is short for respiratory syncytial virus, according to the CDC, which “is a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms” and “can be severe, particularly in infants and older adults.”
The condition “is the leading cause of bronchiolitis (inflammation of the small airways in the lungs) and pneumonia (infection of the lungs) in children under the age of 1 year in the United States,” the national health agency said.
The latest: Country singer Jimmie Allen, 37, and his wife Alexis, 26, open up their one-year-old daughter Zara James’ battle with RSV weeks after she was born in October 2021, when she “turned completely blue.” in one place
Allen and his wife spoke to People on Wednesday as part of their involvement with Knowing RSV, an organization that aims to raise awareness and educate parents about the disease.
Alexis, 26, told the outlet Zara fell ill after she and Jimmie, 37, took Zara and her older daughter Naomi, two, traveling in the weeks after she was born. (He is also father to son Aadyn, eight, from a previous relationship.)
“When they’re that young, they’re sick every other day and they make us sick, so we haven’t really thought about it too much,” Alexis told the publication. “And then Zara was sick for a little longer, probably almost two weeks, and I was a bit concerned about that.”
Alexis said that after Zara “started sounding and looking different,” things “just didn’t seem right” and they went to a hospital to check on her.
Alexis told the outlet that Zara became ill after she and Jimmie took Zara and her older daughter Naomi, two, with them in the weeks following their birth
The couple appeared in an Instagram clip on Wednesday to raise awareness of the condition
The parents were seen with the adorable toddler, who they welcomed in October 2021
“When we went to the hospital, they just told us it was just a cold and that we should go home, do some home remedies and basically have baby cuddles and it would be fine,” Alexis said.
Alexis said the following evening she dialed 911 when Zara was still under the weather but medical workers turned her away “and said she looked fine and that it was probably just a cold”.
Alexis said that despite thinking she was “a crazy mom of two who doesn’t sleep and just sees things,” she took the child — who was “looking really, really bad” — to a pediatrician, where she found she had RSV was diagnosed.
“They described to us that RSV basically gets worse before it gets better,” Alexis said. “So we were around day five, and usually they turn the corner around day seven or eight and seem to be a little bit better.”
Alexis said that during a “scary” incident on a tour bus while Jimmie was singing at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, “Zara turned completely blue and was just completely beside himself, limp.”
She added: “I don’t want to say she passed out but she wasn’t there. Her body just came out and we had to wait for the ambulance to pick us up and take us to the hospital.”
The couple shared what they experienced in their daughter’s health struggle
The couple attended the CMA Awards in Nashville last year
More than a year after the incident, Jimmie said Zara was “fine now,” “overly happy all the time,” and “you wouldn’t even know” she was coping with such a serious illness.
Jimmie said he initially dealt with some confusion in his youngest daughter’s health battle.
“I’m not that smart when it comes to the whole medical field, and even when the doctors told us what was going on, I still didn’t get it because they still weren’t speaking in lay language,” Jimmie said.
He added that he and his spouse are trying to educate other parents about the condition: “I feel like that’s our job as parents – because everything we know now someone else has shared with us – whether it anything, any illness, whether it’s sports, whether it’s finances, whatever. It’s because someone else took the time to share it with you.
Jimmie said it helps parents “to be informed and encouraged not to be afraid of whatever you’re going through and just deal with it.”
Alexis said, “It just helps to raise and spread awareness of what this virus and even other viruses are doing to stop it from evolving.”
In an Instagram post on Wednesday, Allen said: “I will never forget this time in hospital with Zara and with the winter season here and RSV cases increasing lately it is now more important than ever to draw attention to RSV to steer.
“Speak to your healthcare provider and visit KnowingRSV.com to learn more about RSV and my family history. ‘