Sarah Simental just celebrated her 18th birthday last month and is looking forward to studying in high school next year, when COVID-19 suddenly took her life earlier this week, a few days after she complained of headaches and congestion.
Simental, of Tinley Park, Illinois, lost her battle with the virus on Sunday, a week after receiving her diagnosis.
Parents Deborah and Donald Simental said Sarah was an otherwise healthy teenager with no underlying medical condition before the coronavirus destroyed her body.
Sarah Simental, 18, died of COVID-19 a day after Christmas and less than a week after testing positive for the virus in Chicago’s suburbs.
A few days before Christmas, the healthy senior high school complains to her parents, Donald (left) and Deborah (right), about congestion and mild headaches, which they attribute to colds.
“She had a cardiac arrest, she had a brain hemorrhage, it made her kidneys worse, it just ate her through,” Deborah told WLS-TV. No parent ever has to look after their child. No one. ‘
According to the married mother-of-two from Chicago, it all started a few days before Christmas when Sarah first complained of mild cold symptoms.
Deborah Simental said the virus “ate up” her healthy daughter within days
But the high school student’s condition quickly deteriorated and her mother took her to do a COVID test on December 19, which came back positive the next day.
Over the next three days, Sarah continued to add new symptoms that became increasingly common, including vomiting, chills, and body aches.
Her parents rushed Sarah to Silver Cross Hospital two days before Christmas, but her health deteriorated rapidly, and she was eventually transported to the University of Chicago Medical Center, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“I know she was fighting because one of the last times I was able to talk to her by telephone, they took her from the regular room to the ICU and she said, ‘I’m going to get well, Mom,’ last thing, ‘Deborah recalls.
Despite the doctors’ efforts to save her, Sarah passed away on December 26, less than a week after her COVID diagnosis.
Sarah was tested positive for the virus on December 20th. She was taken to a local hospital three days later and then flown to the University of Chicago Medical Center.
The Cook County Medical Officer 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 spent much of her time with her family and her dog, Bailey, and that they did not know where she contracted the virus.
Her 20-year-old brother, Matthew, had a mild case of the disease in August and is recovering.
The Simentals 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 underlying health conditions.
“Sarah is an example that this can happen to the youngest and healthiest people,” Deborah said.
Despite the doctors’ efforts, Sarah experienced shortness of breath and a brain hemorrhage, which resulted in 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 incoming Republican congressman from Louisiana who was only a few days away from taking office, succumbed to COVID. He was 41 years old.
According to doctors, the married father of two children has no underlying health conditions that would put him at greater risk for the disease.
The coronavirus outbreak has so far claimed more than 338,000 lives in the US and 1.8 million worldwide.
Sarah was a senior at Lincoln-Way East High School and volunteered at PAWS of Tinley Park, a pet rescue organization.
She is survived by her parents, brother and grandparents.
Sarah’s funeral will take place Wednesday afternoon in Orland Park, Illinois.