A Missouri mother hopes that the sight of her dying son’s blood dripping on the hospital room wall will help Americans take COVID-19 seriously.
Peyton Baumgarth was just 13 when he died of the virus in October, while his mother – a nurse who had also been infected – watched.
The eighth-grader was diagnosed with coronavirus just six days earlier, but suddenly took a change for the worse, as his oxygen levels dropped, his mother, Stephanie Franek, told The Sun.
While doctors at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital worked frantically to save the 8th grade student’s life, Peyton began to bleed, his mother said.
“She had this severe coughing fit and she was practically starting to have a bleeding in her chest,” she said.
While a doctor tried to insert tubes into the boy’s throat to oxygenate his blood, the liquid was sprayed all over, covering the walls, medical equipment and the doctor himself, Franek said.
“I never thought that would happen,” Stephanie said.
“You have not heard of children receiving COVID and it is so serious. I was just shocked. I can’t describe that sudden devastating loss, “she added.
“I hope people will take COVID more seriously and not say it’s a political agenda or some kind of fake news or that it’s just like the flu.”