BUFFALO, N.Y. — Friends and those who knew 27 year-old Allison Jensen describe her as kind, smart, and beautiful inside and out.
"You always just felt better being around her; she was just that positive force," Kayleigh Tierson said.
Tierson is a life-long friend of Jensen. The two were friends in high school and graduated from Niagara University together. Upon graduation, Jensen pursued a career in marketing.
She worked at Compu-Mail as a marketing coordinator and was the co-director of programming and special events for Buffalo Young Nonprofit Professionals.
Tierson said 2020 was a tough year. She said on top of the pandemic, Jensen was also grieving the death of her father, who passed away in July.
"She handled it with a lot of grace, she created a blog about her grief and her grieving process, which she kept up with a few days before she passed away," Tierson continued.
Her final blog post was written on New Year's Eve, while she was awaiting her COVID test results. The post was titled "2021, Please Don't Hurt Me."
She wrote, "Whether this is COVID, a cold or the flu, or anything else, my body is currently in as much physical pain to match the emotional pain I've been in this year. So all I ask as the clock strikes midnight is 2021, please don't hurt me."
The next day Jensen found out she tested positive for coronavirus.
"She had the usual symptoms, sore throat, coughing, she was very nauseous," Tierson said.
Days later, Jensen was having trouble breathing and went to the hospital. She passed away from complications of COVID-19 on January 7 at Buffalo General Hospital.
"You hear the amount of deaths in the country and as high as it sounds, it is so much worse when it's somebody you are close to," Tierson continued.
Tierson said she wants people to take this pandemic seriously, emphasizing that it could save a life. "It can take anybody, she was healthy, she was young."
To honor Jensen's memory, Tierson said she will continue shopping and eating out locally and supporting the Buffalo Zoo, which were two of her passions.
"Being best friends with her makes me want to be a better person, like the best person I can be, because I know that's what she would want," she said.
