Unvaccinated Mother Dies With COVID Day After Christmas Following Birth of First Son
An unvaccinated woman died with COVID-19 shortly after Christmas, only two months following the birth of her first child.
Natalie Forshaw from Burnage, a suburb of the city of Manchester in northwest England, passed away on December 26 at the age of 30, the Manchester Evening News (MEN) reported.
Forshaw tested positive for the disease while pregnant with her son Caleb, who was delivered via an emergency cesarean section on November 3. She had decided not to get vaccinated because she was pregnant, MEN reported.
But the new mother was forced to remain in hospital as her condition worsened. She eventually ended in the ICU at Manchester Royal Infirmary but doctors were not able to save her.
The woman's mother, Bernie Wilton, told MEN that Forshaw had been at home when she first began feeling sick.
"Because she was pregnant we took her to see a doctor and her oxygen levels were very very low. She was getting bad pains in her chest," Wilton said.
"She went to hospital and the baby was delivered but Natalie was transferred to intensive care. She was not able to see Caleb for a week."
Soon after the baby was delivered, doctors placed Forshaw in a drug-induced coma as part of her treatment. Then in mid-November, medical staff spotted a blood clot inside her heart.
Later in the month, the blood clot broke up and moved her lungs, leaving her in critical condition. In early December, doctors told the family there was nothing more they could do for Forshaw.
Despite showing some signs of improvement, on December 20, the 30-year-old's heart failed and she died less than a week later.
On December 27, Wilton posted on Facebook: "Today, my heart broke into many pieces. I don't think it will ever mend.
"I am going to miss your daft ways...the fact that you text me 8,400,000 times a day even if it was just to say love you mammy. We had the most amazing bond not only mother and daughter but very best of friends...
"But you left us a very special piece of you my gawgus grandson Caleb and I swear with the help of everyone who knew you we will make sure he knows every detail of your life and I will never ever let him forget you.
"I know you will be watching us to make sure we do it right anyway and I know you will let me know some way if we are not...you fought so hard my baby girl...you rest now baby girl I know you will light up the sky...my life will never be the same."
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pregnant women and those who have recently had a baby are more likely to get severely ill with COVID-19 compared with non-pregnant people—although the overall risk is still low.
This is because pregnancy causes changes in the body that can reduce an individual's ability to fight off a respiratory infection.
The CDC says vaccination can protect you from severe COVID-19 illness and is recommended for all people aged 12 years and older, including "people who are pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant now, or might become pregnant in the future."
The currently available evidence indicates that the benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine outweigh any known or potential risks of vaccination during pregnancy, according to the CDC.
