Woman dies of COVID-19 after giving birth to her baby while on a ventilator

Downtown Brooklyn, Minnesota – A Minnesota father is in mourning after his wife died of COVID-19 complications on July 19. She had just given birth to a healthy baby by cesarean section, KMSP reported.

Juan Durán’s wife Aurora, who was pregnant with their third child, was admitted to North Memorial Hospital in Downtown Brooklyn located in northwest Minneapolis with symptoms of coronavirus. By June 19, they put her on a fan, according to KMSP.

“She is a healthy 35 year old woman with no pre-existing conditions,” Duran told KMSP. “We never thought that this could happen to our family.”

Doctors at North Memorial Hospital determined that to save her and her baby’s life, she would have to have an emergency C-section, according to Duran.

“It was then that he hit me. I was thinking ‘okay, she will spend this, a few days in the hospital’. But when I got that call, it hit me, ”Duran told KMSP.

Aurora gave birth to a 10-week-old premature girl named Andrea while on a ventilator. Her condition improved while she was in the NICU, but Aurora’s condition worsened.

The doctors informed Duran that Aurora would receive extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or ECMO treatment to preserve the functions of the heart and lungs from outside her body, but the hospital where she was treated was unable to offer the treatment. The only option was to transfer her to another hospital, but Duran’s requests were eventually denied, KMSP reported.

Duran hopes his story will raise awareness of COVID-19 and hopes that people will take precautions to stop the spread.

“Just be careful because you could be healthy like my wife and end up in the ICU with the ventilator,” Duran told KMSP.

Duran created a GoFundMe to lessen the burden on hospital bills, but the funds will now be used to prepare for Aurora’s funeral. So far more than $ 20,000 has been raised with a goal of $ 25,000.