A teenage girl with no underlying health issues died of coronavirus just days after complaining of headaches.
Sarah Simental passed away on Sunday, less than a week after being diagnosed with the killer bug, and having only turned 18 earlier this month.
The high school student, from Tinley Park, near Chicago, US, was otherwise healthy but the virus "ate her through", leading to a brain bleed and kidney deterioration, according to her parents Deborah and Donald.
A few days before Christmas, Sarah began to suffer with mild cold-like symptoms but things quickly escalated and her mum took her for a test on December 19, which came back positive.
Over the next three days the Lincoln-Way East High School student continued to worsen, with vomiting, chills and body aches, before she was taken to Silver Cross Hospital on December 23.
She was subsequently airlifted to University of Chicago Medical Center where she died on Boxing Day, reports the Chicago Tribune.
Deborah told WLS-TV : "She went into cardiac arrest, she had a brain bleed, it was deteriorating her kidneys, it just ate her through. No parent should ever have to watch their child go through that. Nobody.
"I know she fought because one of the last times I was able to talk to her on the phone, they were taking her from the regular room to ICU and she said 'I am going to be OK, mom,' and that was the last thing," Deborah added.
The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office has since ruled she died of acute hypoxic respiratory failure due to the coronavirus infection, with non-traumatic cerebral hemorrhages as a contributing factor.
Sarah's brother, Matthew, 20, had come down with the virus in August but quickly recovered.
Deborah and Donald said their daughter had spent much of the pandemic at home with the family dog, Bailey, and they don't know how she caught Covid.
"Sarah is an example that it can happen to the youngest and healthiest people," Deborah said.
Donald added: "Please take this coronavirus seriously."
