Unvaccinated bride spent her wedding day in hospital on a ventilator before dying from COVID

An unvaccinated Kentucky woman spent what would have been her wedding day on a ventilator treated for COVID-19. She later died three weeks later.

Samantha Wendell, 29, was engaged to Austin Eskew on August 21. But after returning from her bachelorette party in late July, she started showing symptoms of COVID, according to Fox 11 news channel. It started. like a mild cough that intensified and she developed stress hives. Wendell was finally admitted to hospital on August 9 and was later transferred to a larger facility and put on a ventilator.

“She had had stress hives before from all the stress of planning the wedding and everything that is going on,” Eskew said. “She had it before and thought it was what it was, but I said to her, ‘You know, just to rule it out, if your job is testing, see if they will allow you to get tested. . ‘”

Wendell and Eskew were not both vaccinated. Due to the spread of the Delta variant, they had scheduled dates to get the jab before their wedding, but Wendell’s positive diagnosis put their plans on hold.

Wendell was the only one of 11 women who attended her bachelorette party to contract the virus. Eskew also tested positive, but it turned out to be a milder case that quickly subsided.

Wendell was found to have “dangerously low” oxygen levels upon admission to hospital and was diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia shortly after. On September 6, she tested negative for COVID and was allowed to see her loved ones during normal visiting hours. Doctors were optimistic she would be okay.

However, on September 9, a CT scan showed she had significant scars all over her lungs.

“And at that point, there was no chance of her surviving,” Eskew said. She was removed from the ventilator and died the next day. His funeral took place on September 18.

Eskew admitted that he and his fiancee had not been vaccinated due to misinformation they had seen. Wendell in particular was hesitant after hearing false claims that gunfire made women infertile.

“At one point I think it came from a friend of hers, to be honest it could have been something she saw on Facebook because it pops up all over there, but it was about loss of fertility, “Eskew told Fox 11” We wanted to start a family. That’s why we were hesitant at first. “

Infertility has become one of the predominant false narratives surrounding COVID-19 vaccines. Like most misinformation about vaccines, it is believed to have initially spread on social media. COVID-19 itself appears to be more damaging to pregnancy than any vaccine, as pregnant women have experienced an increase in the number of stillbirths due to the virus.

Experts have pointed to pregnancy statistics from patients who participated in Pfizer vaccine trials to refute such claims. During these experiments, 23 women ended up getting pregnant. Only one of them ended up losing her pregnancy, but they were in the placebo group.

“Those who are on the fence, especially if they’re in the same position as me, but if someone is on the fence and doesn’t really care somehow, why put it back. see you later, ”Eskew said.

A GoFundMe page has been created to help Eskew pay medical bills. By Tuesday night, he had almost reached his goal of $ 5,000.