FARMINGTON, Utah — The Farmington community remains in shock weeks after the loss of a wife and mother who died unexpectedly just a day after being diagnosed with leukemia.
Laycee Barnett's husband said there's still a lot he'll probably never fully understand.
"Her blood type was O Positive, and our saying through this was 'Oh, so positive,' we're going to be, "Oh, so positive,' and that's who she was even in the darkest times," said Josh Barnett, Laycee's husband.
When Josh remembers one of his favorite dates to Mount Timpanogas with Laycee, he still can't help but smile.
"We were getting close to the top and I was so sick we had to go back to the saddle at a lower elevation to watch the sunrise," he said. "Well, she kissed me and I didn't have any gum, but I knew she liked me."
Now, it pains him to know his wife and the mother of their twins is no longer here after Laycee passed away on Jan. 15 at just 28 years old, one day after receiving the leukemia diagnosis.
"I was there in the hospital right when her heart first stopped, then they started taking control of the disease and the situation, doing medication to keep her heart rate up, then just later on her body just kept getting immune," Josh shared, "the leukemia was too strong too fast and she passed away."
Barnett said Laycee seemed completely healthy until she began having flu-like symptoms the Wednesday before she died.
"She was pregnant, so we weren't too concerned about everything," he remembered. "Then, as the days progressed and her symptoms started worsening, her legs weren't working well and she stopped eating. We took her to instacare and they said, alright you have strep throat, and then the next day we took her to the ER and that's when we found out she had leukemia."
While the couple were trying to remain positive in the hours after the diagnosis, the news they received soon after was even more devastating as an ultrasound showed she had started to miscarry due to her disease.
Josh and Laycee had planned to spend more intentional time as a couple in 2024, but even though she'll no longer be by his side, Josh will wear her wedding ring around his neck as a memory of their life together.
"It was actually her grandmother's ring, too," he said. "I'll never move on, I can just move forward, and I just want that piece of her with me as I experience this new life."
Family members set up a GoFundMe fundraiser to raise money for the family while they cope with the tragic loss of Laycee.
