Question about exporting mesh deform modifier into unity

I’ve been self-learning blender and 3D modeling for the last 3 months. I finished my second character model, rig, and basic animations. I have a problem that I can’t seem to find the solution online.

I used a [mesh deform modifier] as part of the rig. I’ve tried exporting the results to Unity3D, but I found out that only the deform mesh moves, and not the actual character. Applying the mesh deform modifier inside blender does not work. Is there a way to export the mesh deform into a fbx file, or is there a way to easily convert the mesh deform modifier into another form of modifier that is exportable?

Or am I doomed to have to stick to armature weight painting?

Thanks in advance for helping me out, and for being such an awesome community.