An 18-year-old high school senior in Chicago, Sarah Simental, has died from COVID-19 complications on December 26 – just three days after contracting the virus. Her parents, who were with her at her deathbed, said the virus ate through her body before she passed on.
According to the girl’s mother, Deborah Simental, her healthy daughter complained of headache, body aches, and a sore throat last Wednesday and later tested positive for COVID-19 at a local hospital. She was airlifted to the University of Chicago Medical treatment where she later succumbed to the disease.
“She was a healthy young lady who had just turned 18 in November and had the world in her hands,” her mother said. “It literally just ate her through. And no parent should ever have to watch their child go through that. I’m thinking that I’m going to miss out on some real milestones that every mother wants to have with her daughter.”
While lamenting her loss, Deborah Simental said the death of her daughter is a further testament that coronavirus is real and that the youngest and healthiest of people can get infected and later succumb to the disease. She said her daughter knew she was going to miss Christmas away from home, but she never knew she would never return home again for anything, Fox News reports.
Sarah’s dad, Don Simental, said he was surprised that the disease progressed so fast and took away his daughter within three days. The family said they will all recover and be okay again, and that they were glad to be at their daughter’s bedside when she passed away peacefully.
The medical examiner’s office at Cook County said Simental died of acute hypoxic respiratory failure and non-traumatic cerebral hemorrhages as a result of the COVID-19 infection. She is scheduled to be interred at the Lawn Funeral Home in Orland Park, Illinois, on Wednesday.
Source: nypost.com
