Ashley Gomez loved taking care of people. For the past 12 years, she worked as a nurse and enjoyed helping her patients thrive. Most recently, the mother of six, aged 30, worked as a care manager in a congregational setting in the Los Angeles area. Her selflessness was one of the reasons she did not seek treatment when she developed the symptoms of COVID-19. She wanted to make sure that those seriously ill got help before she did.
“She only cared about others. She waited to go to the hospital herself. She’s like, ‘Mom, there may be a bed for someone who needs it more than I do,’ ”said her mother, Veronica Gornick, TODAY. “But she was getting so bad with her breathing, oh my God. On the fifth day, I convinced her to go. “
On December 18, Gomez, who was 37 weeks pregnant, went to the hospital. and gave birth to baby Corey by emergency caesarean section shortly thereafter. Although she felt better after giving birth, her breathing got worse and she was put on a respirator. After two weeks, she died.
“It’s devastating,” said Gornick. “It is simply unbelievable. What a wonderful person she was from the inside out. “
Difficulty breathing and fever
The family (including Gornick and her husband) does not know how they contracted COVID-19. While Gomez worked during the pandemic, she had a lot of personal protective equipment. Still, like anyone, she feared that she could contract the coronavirus even on trips to the supermarket.
“She was a little worried, but I would say she thought she would be fine,” said Gornick. “She was very obstinate.”
No one else in his family developed symptoms as severe as Gomez. She struggled to breathe and had a fever. Five days after her first symptoms, she went to the hospital where the team tried to help her breathe and control her fever. They found out she had a urinary tract infection and started treating her as well. They hoped that infection control would also reduce fever.
While she was getting worse, doctors performed an emergency cesarean section to give birth to their sixth child, Corey. She caught a glimpse of him before the doctors took him away. The baby is fine and has never contracted COVID-19. After giving birth, it looked like Gomez was getting better.
“She was texting, ‘I’m better. I feel so much better, ‘”said Gornick. “I was like, ‘Oh, thank God.’ I said, ‘Take it easy’ ”.
But that night her breathing got worse and the doctors intubated her.
“She’s gone,” said Gornick. “The machines kept her alive.”
But they heard reports that gave them hope, as when she was less dependent on machines. Doctors suspected that the ICU caused another infection and were not sure where it was. Still, they tried to treat him. But the family received a call in early January that made them realize that Gomez would never recover.
“During the night, she had a fever of 109 and that fever shut her down,” said Gornick. “The doctors said, ‘She is dying. Your organs are shutting down. ‘She was on dialysis and a respirator and then her heart was failing. “
The next day, the hospital called Gornick and Gomez’s husband and asked them to come back to say goodbye to Gomez. When they sat next to her bed, Gomez stopped breathing and the team tried to resuscitate her.
“It was so hard for her,” recalls Gornick. “The doctor says: ‘We can keep doing this or we stop and let it go in peace’ … So, I am facing a difficult decision.”
Soon after, Gomez died on January 3.
‘Horrible, devastating’
Gomez loved being the mother of her five children, Ryan, 11, Jacob, 9, Zachary, 8, Maverick, 2 and Jordan, 1. She never really met Corey. Her family remembers how she fought with the boys and played baseball with them.
“They collapsed when the father told them. It was horrible, devastating beyond belief, ”said Gornick. “(Jacob) was like, ‘Sunshine, why did my mom have to go? Because?’ and it’s so hard. I’m like, ‘Honey, we’re all here, but Mom is in your heart.’
Two of her children have a different father, who has passed away. Gomez and her husband divorced, but remarried. Gornick said the family hopes the boys can be together.
“We need to keep these boys together. They love each other very much and look at each other and depend on each other every day, ”she said. “We can face challenges.”
The family is struggling to lose Gomez.
“It is hard. Each of us is suffering differently now and it is very difficult because we all love her very much,” said Gornick. “COVID took it from us.”
The family created a GoFundMe to help raise money for their children and is close to reaching its goal. Gornick hopes that Gomez’s story will encourage people to do their part to protect others from COVID-19.
“What a wonderful, intelligent and loving person she was. Is not fair. She didn’t deserve it, ”said Gornick. “I would like people to take the pandemic seriously and wear their masks and social distance because COVID is out there and it sucks.”