Student who promised his mother he would get vaccinated at school dies of Covid-19

A 20-year-old student from North Carolina, who was reluctant to get a coronavirus vaccine, died of complications after catching Covid-19 three days after returning to college.

Tyler Gilreath, a student at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington, died Tuesday after testing positive for the coronavirus, which he contracted just days after returning to college.

The student, according to his mother Tamra Demello, believed his age would protect him from the virus. “I coaxed, encouraged, threatened and harassed him to get the shot. He was too busy and / or worried about possible long-term heart problems,” Demello said on social media.

Gilreath had agreed to be vaccinated as soon as he moved to school but hadn’t had the chance.

“I am devastated beyond belief,” his mother added.

Gilreath fell seriously ill just three days after moving to college and developed a sinus and staph infection that lasted for three weeks before entering his brain. He developed a brain abscess which ruptured last week. He was briefly conscious after going to the hospital, but the blood flow to his brain stopped. Finally, last Friday, a CT scan showed he had irreversible brain damage.

He died on September 28 after being removed from the resuscitation system.

Her mother maintains that Gilreath had no pre-existing health issues. He was a computer student and enjoyed wakeboarding, water skiing and snow skiing.

Ms Demello urged parents to “use any guilt tactics” necessary to convince their children to get the vaccine.

“Legally, they’re adults. You really can’t get them to leave. But I would use any guilt tactic I could possibly find. I would try to take them away to see if they would leave,” a- she told reporters.

Gilreath signed up to be an organ donor when he got his license. “Tomorrow her body will be harvested so that up to 80 people can live or enjoy a more normal life with the donation of her organs, skin, tendons, ligaments, etc.,” her mother wrote. .

“He will live in my heart and through these recipients. I know he is with God, but the hole in my life that he leaves will never go away,” she added.

As U.S. colleges and universities prepare to open their campuses for the fall semester, education administrators across the country have made immunizations a prerequisite for students and faculty.