A Chicago mom is warning people to stay home after her “perfectly healthy” teenage daughter died just three days after being hospitalized because of the coronavirus.
Sarah Simental, from Tinley Park, Illinois, a city about 15 miles southwest of Chicago, turned 18 last month and had been taking all recommended precautions, her mother Deborah Simental told NBC Chicago.
“I really have no idea how she got it,” she said. Sarah had only seen her immediate family and boyfriend, who were negative.
Sarah started showing symptoms on December 16, and at the end of December 18, she started vomiting and chills. The next morning, her mother said, they took a COVID-19 test and tested positive for Sarah. Deborah Simental never tested positive.
When Sarah started experiencing severe pain in her left shoulder, they went to the hospital on the recommendation of her pediatrician. Three days later, on December 26, Sarah died at the University of Chicago hospital with her parents by her side. She had a series of mini-strokes and had cardiac arrest, said Deborah Simental, and then had a brain bleed on both sides.
“They did what they could, but it was necessary,” she said, adding that Sarah had no underlying conditions. “A perfectly healthy 18-year-old girl.”
“I know she fought a lot, my daughter was a fighter. But it wasn’t enough, it wasn’t enough, ”she said with tears in her eyes. “It just took over. And he took it from us all. “
Now Deborah Simental hopes that her daughter’s story will serve as a cautionary tale for people as the COVID-19 vaccine slowly spreads across the country.
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“Please wear your masks, make your social distance,” she said. “There will be more holidays, more birthdays … you have them again. This took my daughter and we will not be able to have it again. “
“The last words she said to me were, ‘Mom, it’s going to be okay,’” said Deborah Simental, emotionally. “She told me that everything would be fine – it would be fine. She will always be with us and everything will be fine. “