Sarah Simental had just turned 18 last month and was looking forward to graduating from high school next spring, when COVID-19 suddenly took her life earlier this week, just days after complaining of headaches and congestion.
Simental of Tinley Park, Illinois, lost his battle with the virus on Sunday, a week after receiving his diagnosis.
Parents Deborah and Donald Simental said Sarah was a healthy teenager, without any medical conditions, before the coronavirus wreaked havoc on her body.
Sarah Simental, 18, died of COVID-19 one day after Christmas and less than a week after testing positive for the Chicago suburban virus.
A few days before Christmas, the healthy senior in high school complained to her parents, Donald (left) and Deborah (right), about congestion and mild headaches, which they attributed to a cold.
“He went into cardiac arrest, had a brain hemorrhage, damaged his kidneys, just ate it,” Deborah told WLS-TV. “No parent should ever see their child go through this. No one.’
According to the mother of two married people from the Chicago suburbs, it all started a few days before Christmas, when Sarah first complained of mild cold-like symptoms.
Deborah Simental said the virus “ate” her healthy daughter in a few days
But the high school student’s condition deteriorated rapidly and her mother took her for a COVID test on December 19, which returned positive the next day.
Over the next three days, Sarah continued to add new and increasingly troubling symptoms, including vomiting, chills, and body aches.
Her parents took Sarah to Silver Cross Hospital two days before Christmas, but her health continued to decline rapidly, and she was eventually flown to University of Chicago Medical Center, according to the report. from the Chicago Tribune.
“I know she fought because one of the last times I managed to talk to her on the phone, they took her out of the regular room at the ICU and she said, ‘I’ll be fine, Mom,’ and that was the last thing.” Deborah recalled.
Despite doctors’ efforts to save her, Sarah died on December 26, less than a week after being diagnosed with COVID.
Sarah tested positive for the virus on December 20th. She was taken to a local hospital three days later, then flown to the University of Chicago Medical Center.
Cook’s doctor’s office determined that the high school student died of acute hypoxic respiratory failure due to COVID-19 infection, with non-traumatic cerebral hemorrhage as a contributing factor.
Sarah’s parents said their daughter spends much of her time at home with her family and her dog, Bailey, and they don’t know where she contracted the virus.
Her 20-year-old brother, Matthew, had come with a mild case of illness in August and recovered.
The settlers said they decided to share their daughter’s story to remind the public that COVID-19 does not only affect the elderly or people with the underlying health conditions.
“Sarah is an example of what can happen to the youngest and healthiest people,” Deborah said.
Despite the doctors’ efforts, Sarah suffered from respiratory failure and brain bleeding, which led to her death on December 26.
Sarah’s older brother Matthew, 20 (left), caught COVID in August, but recovered
Three days after Sarah’s death, Luke Letlow, the new Republican congressman in Louisiana, who was just days away from being ousted, gave in to COVID. He was 41 years old.
Doctors said that the father of the two married people does not have health conditions that would put him at a higher risk of illness.
So far, the coronavirus outbreak has claimed more than 338,000 lives in the United States and 1.8 million worldwide.
Sarah was a senior at Lincoln-Way East High School and volunteered for PAWS in Tinley Park, a pet rescue organization.
She is survived by her parents, brother and grandparents.
Sarah’s funeral is scheduled for Wednesday afternoon in Orland Park, Illinois.