It has been nearly a year since the world of Ludmil Velev changed forever.
For a few months in early 2020, his mother was visiting Pittsburgh from Bulgaria, thrilled to be with her granddaughter.
“I’m happy I spent time with her,” said Velev, 44, of Greenfield. “She was extremely happy to be with us.”
The smiles and joy turned into tears and a fight for life — something neither mother nor son could have anticipated as the coronavirus crept into Western Pennsylvania in March 2020. Ofelia Rousseva, 78, died March 19, becoming the second reported death in Allegheny County connected to covid-19. Velev spent 10 days afterward in a hospital battling the disease himself.