While many Americans prepare for the inevitable reopening of the country and the eventual end of the coronavirus pandemic, one family in Washington, D.C. wants to remind people that many are still dying from COVID-19.
Shanetta Wilson, 43, contracted the virus in April just after her baby shower, and she was ultimately checked into George Washington University Hospital, where she fell into a coma six months into her pregnancy. She died on June 1.
“It was devastating to hear like how fast the virus had attacked her lungs, and everything started to shut down really quickly, and how she slipped into a coma,” said her niece, Gwendolyn Wilson.
The pregnant woman’s baby, named Charles, was delivered early last month while she was hospitalized. However, he died five days later after suffering from a lack of oxygen in utero while his mother was in a coma.
“I think we held hope all the way up into the end of the time of her death,” another niece said.
Shanetta Wilson leaves behind a four-year-old daughter and a 15-year-old son. Her kin said she suffered from underlying conditions but did not disclose what they were.
She had been scheduled to receive the coronavirus vaccine but had yet to take it. Her family told WUSA9 that they hope her story is proof that the pandemic has not ended.
“A lot of families are suffering, and they’re suffering in silence too because you know, we’ve moved on; we’re like, ‘Oh, it’s over,’ and it’s not,” niece Charlene Wilson said. “People are still dying.”
Her family has created a GoFundMe to support her burial expenses. In an update posted to the page, they write that the “story has informed people of all nationalities to entertain the idea of receiving the Covid vaccine.”
The Wilson family invited donors to her service and requested continued prayers for her husband and two children.
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