A mother from Tinley Park says her daughter died just three days after the healthy teenager was hospitalized with coronavirus just before Christmas.
Sarah Simental, a Lincoln-Way East veteran who just turned 18 last month, first reported a minor headache on December 16, said her mother Deborah Simental. The next day, she started to feel congested and had a sore throat.
“My immediate thought was that these are symptoms of COVID,” said Deborah Simental.
Out of the house, Simental had only seen her boyfriend before he felt the symptoms, his mother said.
On Friday, her symptoms continued as she started to experience fever, chills and vomiting.
On Saturday morning, her mother took her for a coronavirus test and that night the results were positive.
On Wednesday morning, Simental went to Silver Cross Hospital after starting to feel pain in his left shoulder. While there, his oxygen levels dropped and Simmental was placed on a ventilator and taken to the intensive care unit.
Because of the coronavirus protocols, Deborah Simental was unable to see her daughter while she was hospitalized, but she talked to her on the phone when she was transferred to the ICU.
“I said, ‘It’s going to be okay’ and she knew she was going to miss Christmas – she loved Christmas,” said Deborah Simental. “The last words she said to me were, ‘Mom, it’s going to be okay.’
On Christmas Eve, Simental said he was finally able to visit his daughter, but by that time, the teenager was already sedated.
“I just hope she was able to hear me while I was talking to her,” said Deborah Simental.
On Christmas Day, the 18-year-old was being flown to the University of Chicago Medical Center and on December 26 she passed away.
“It was very fast,” said Deborah Simental. “No underlying conditions. She was a very healthy 18-year-old. We were proactive about health, we had all had flu shots and we knew the importance because I emphasized this all the time when it came to social detachment and checking if we had masks on.
According to Cook County coroner’s office, Simental died of acute hypoxic respiratory failure due to the coronavirus.
“It took. It took a perfectly healthy 18-year-old girl,” said Deborah Simental. “I still can’t understand this.”
Simental Family
The family said it was unclear how Simental contracted the virus.
The teenager’s mother, boyfriend and boyfriend’s father were negative after the diagnosis.
“I really have no idea how she got it,” said Deborah Simental.
A mother from Tinley Park says her daughter died just three days after the healthy teenager was hospitalized with coronavirus just before Christmas. Reporting by Regina Waldroup from NBC 5.
Simental’s family said they hope that sharing their story will help others recognize the seriousness of the pandemic.
“There are people out there who don’t take it seriously. Her father and I are here to tell you – that it is real,” said Deborah Simental. “There will be more holidays, birthdays, all these events that we are not able to do. You will have them again. It took my daughter and we will not be able to do it again.”
Simental’s visit is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon at Orland Park, but due to coronavirus restrictions, only 10 people are allowed at a time and masks and social distance are required. The family also plans a private funeral.
Simental is being remembered as a free-spirited, gentle man and an animal lover who volunteered at local animal shelters. Her obituary says she was “loved by her furry best friend Bailey”.
Instead of flowers, her family asks for donations to be made to Tinley Park’s PAWS at pawstinleypark.org/donate.
“Please wear a mask, social distance. Don’t worry about getting together for these events, just wait until this is under control,” said Deborah Simental. “You are not in the position where your father and I are now. No one should have to bury their son. No father should have to watch his son go through what my daughter went through. It was a nightmare.”