103-Year-Old Grandmother Celebrates With Bud Light After Surviving Coronavirus Battle

A Massachusetts grandmother celebrated surviving the deadly coronavirus by drinking a bottle of [...]

A Massachusetts grandmother celebrated surviving the deadly coronavirus by drinking a bottle of ice-cold Bud Light. Jennie Stejna lives at a nursing home in Wilbraham and has spent her entire life in Western Massachusetts. She was the first person to test positive at her nursing home, and was told she made a full recovery on May 13.

Stejna's granddaughter, Shelley Gunn, told Wicked Local she took her daughter Violet to the Life Care Center of Wilbraham to meet her great-grandmother after Gunn and her husband Adam Gunn moved to Easton from Seattle. She took Violet on March 7, which was the last day the facility allowed guests to visit. Last month, Stejna tested positive for the coronavirus after coming down with a fever, Gunn explained. She was moved to a separate ward.

Stejna's condition continued to get worse and she did not fully understand the disease, Gunn said. Gunn often called Stejna in the days after her grandmother tested positive and assumed each call could be the last. During one call, Adam asked Stejna if she was ready to go to heaven. "Hell, yes," she replied.

On May 13, Gunn heard Stejna recovered. "This feisty old Polish grandmother of ours officially beat the coronavirus," Adam told Wicked Local. Gunn said they were "truly very thankful." The staff later gave Stejna a bottle of Bud Light to celebrate and she was the first resident in the home to recover.

Stejna has spent her entire life in Western Massachusetts. She was married to her husband, Teddy, for 54 years until his death in 1992. Gunn said the couple lived on a lake in Indian Orchard and she spent her summers with her grandparents. Stejna taught Gunn how to cook Polish meals and was a "hard core Boston sports fan."

Stejna is not the only centenarian to survive the coronavirus. William Lapschies, 104, recovered from the coronavirus. He lives at the Edward C. Allworth Veterans' Home in Oregon, reports KOIN. He was among 15 residents at the facility to test positive. He first showed symptoms on March 5 and lived isolated in his room. About a month later, he recovered from the virus.

Maria Branyas, a 113-year-old woman believed to be the oldest woman in Spain, was diagnosed with the coronavirus in March, reports BBC News. She recovered and only suffered from mild symptoms when she had the virus. "Now that she is well, she is wonderful, she wants to speak, to explain, to make her reflections, it is her again," Branyas' daughter tweeted.

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