A pregnant Alabama nurse who refused to get vaccinated died of Covid-19 along with her unborn child, according to a report. Haley Mulkey Richardson, 32, was a registered nurse working in a labor and delivery unit at Ascension Sacred Heart Hospital in Pensacola, Florida. She contracted the coronavirus about three weeks before she died on Friday.
Her mourning family is still in shock and is unable to figure out why she was averse to take the vaccine. Also, they are clueless if Richardson contracted Covid-19 while working at the hospital or elsewhere, according to Al.com.
Can't Win Over Death
According to a family friend, Richardson had contracted Covid-19 around the end of July or early August when she was living with her husband Jordan and young daughter Katie in Theodore, a suburb of Mobile. She was later transferred to an ICU after her symptoms deteriorated, according to the report.
Although it is not known how she contracted the deadly virus, Richardson, according to her family members, had decided not to take the vaccine because she feared suffering life-threatening allergic reactions after reading and hearing about such unproven claims. She also believed that taking the jab could harm her unborn baby.
Her mother, Julie Mulkey, told Alabama.com: "Haley had anaphylaxis reactions in the past. So for that reason, she felt that it was not safe for her. And then, of course, with all the negative reporting that has gone on, what was she to believe about what the vaccine would do to reproduction?"
"Stuff about that it would destroy a female's eggs and that kind of thing, and she wanted to have her second baby. That made her afraid to get it," she added.
Suffering Ends, So Does Life
Richardson's sufferings have ended, but so has her life. She could have been alive had she taken the vaccine. Pregnant women are strongly recommended to get vaccinated against Covid-19 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). So far, there has been no evidence that it adversely affects pregnant women.
Richardson's family not only lost her but also the child. "After about three or four days in the hospital, the [obstetrician] told her that she was going to lose the baby," family friend Jason Whatley reportedly said. "And she continued to get worse and worse."
Her unborn child, named Ryleigh Beth, died on August 18 around the six months pregnancy mark and two days later Richardson, herself, died. "At some point, they basically told her that we've got to start treating you as if you didn't have a child. We've got to do what we can for you because the baby is going to pass anyway," Whatley said.
"It's really hard. It's hard to accept, it's hard to face. We're glad she's not suffering anymore," said Mulkey.
At some point, Richardson realized that she may too die after losing her child. Before dying, she wrote a cryptic Facebook post. "Here in the dark, in the wee hours of the morning, it is so easy to pretend that all of this was just a nightmare or that I'm just here in this hospital bed due to my own issues with COVID. Not for anything being wrong with my sweet baby girl whom I thought I was protecting in my own womb. I know the prognosis and I know the reality."
"And while part of me may start to acknowledge this, the other part of me still believes God is still the God of miracles and is in control above all else. I hope and pray for miracles, but having said that I am also praying for his will to be done. If there has ever been a time to ask for something to be taken out of my own hands and put in his, it is now."
