On what would have been her wedding day, Samantha Wendell's reaction to the coronavirus was so severe that she was admitted to hospital where she remained until her untimely death.
Discover our latest podcast
Hooked on ventilator on wedding day
The 29-year-old Kentucky woman reportedly contracted the virus right after her bachelorette party and was the only one out of the 11 guests present at the celebration to have gotten it. Her symptoms started with a light cough, but quickly degenerated into stress hives. Austin Eskew, the man she was supposed to marry, explained that:
She had broken out in stress hives before because of all of the stress of the wedding planning and everything that's going on. She had it before and thought that's what that was, but I told her, 'You know, just to rule it out, if your work tests, see if they'll allow you to get tested.
Eskew also tested positive for the virus, but was fortunate enough to have had a mild case. Upon being admitted to the hospital, Wendell's oxygen levels were found to have been dangerously low, as the virus had also caused a bilateral pneumonia to develop.
Vaccine hesitancy
After no longer testing positive for the virus, doctor's also found that the woman had suffered major scarring all over her lungs and ultimately passed away as soon as she was taken off the ventilator.
Eskew says that vaccine hesitancy was the major factor that contributed to his fiancée's death.
At one point in time, I believe it came from one of her friends, to be honest, it could have been something she saw on Facebook because it pops up everywhere on there, but it was about fertility loss. We wanted to have a family. That's why we were hesitant at first.
