The normally healthy teen died of COVID-19 the day after Christmas.
“I took her to be tested that Saturday morning and by Saturday night she was positive, but she kept adding new symptoms,” said her mother, Deborah Simental.
Her mother said she is replaying the tragic timeline from the past week.
“She vomited and she got chills and her body ached,” Simental said.
Two days before Christmas, the 18-year-old was admitted to Silver Cross Hospital. Her symptoms got worse quickly.
Later an airlift to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where doctors tried to save Sarah’s life.
“I know she fought because one of the last times I could speak to her on the phone, they took her from the regular room to the ICU and she said, ‘It’s going to be fine, Mom’, and that was the last , ”said Simental.
She didn’t make it.
“She went into cardiac arrest, she had a brain haemorrhage, it worsened her kidneys, it just kept eating her,” Simental said. No parent should ever see their child go through that. No one.’
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Sarah hadn’t been out of the house very often, so her mother isn’t sure how she contracted the virus.
The teenager spent more time at home with her family and dog Bailey during the pandemic.
Her family shares an important message.
“Please take this coronavirus seriously,” said her father Don Simental.
The funeral will take place Wednesday at the Lawn Funeral Home in Orland Park. Instead of flowers, her family asks for donations to PAWS from Tinley Park, where Sara spent a lot of time.
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