Nurse mom of 13-year-old boy who died of COVID-19 after coughing fit posted graphic photos of his blood splattered on a hospital wall as she urged Americans to take the pandemic seriously.
Peyton Baumgarth, who suffered from asthma and thyroid problems, died of complications from COVID-19 on October 31, just six days after showing symptoms.
Peyton’s devastated mother Stephanie Franek, a 44-year-old nurse and mother of two, had taken him to a Missouri hospital two days earlier after his condition suddenly deteriorated, as his fingernails turned blue and he found it difficult to speak easily.
He then suffered a severe coughing fit in the ICU at SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis and died because doctors were unable to increase his blood oxygen levels.
Franek posted the heartbreaking images showing the aftermath of his son’s dying moments to remind him that children can die from the virus as well.
The 13-year-old’s tragic death came just six weeks before his aunt – who was also a nurse – died from the deadly virus.
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Graphic photos show blood from 13-year-old Missouri boy splashed onto hospital walls after he died of complications from COVID-19 just six days after showing symptoms
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Peyton’s distraught mother told The Sun that she tested positive for the virus on October 25 and that she and her son had started showing mild symptoms.
Franek said Peyton’s symptoms did not appear to be life threatening and they had just spent their time in quarantine watching Netflix together.
But on October 29, she said she noticed her son had gotten worse.
Peyton’s fingernails and fingernails turned blue and he struggled to hold a conversation, she said.
The worried mother took her son to the hospital that day, where doctors found his oxygen saturation level had fallen to 44% – less than half the level of a healthy person.
Franek said she was shocked by this because, as a nurse, “I have never seen anyone walk and speak with an oxygen saturation level of only 44%”.
Within an hour, Peyton was put on a ventilator and he received extracorporeal membrane oxygenation – a treatment that replaces the function of a person’s own lungs by pumping blood to an artificial lung that adds oxygen and removes carbon dioxide.
Franek told the outlet that she still thought “we’ll get over that bump and take it home.”
But two days later, on October 31, Peyton deteriorated rapidly and began to have a coughing fit and a hemorrhage in his chest.
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Peyton Baumgarth, who suffered from asthma and thyroid problems, died on October 31 after suffering a severe coughing fit in the ICU of SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, St. Louis.
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Peyton’s devastated mother Stephanie Franek, 44, had taken him to hospital two days earlier after his condition suddenly deteriorated, as his fingernails turned blue and he found it difficult to speak easily.
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The 13-year-old’s tragic death (along with his mother) came just six weeks before his aunt also died from the deadly virus
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“He had this big coughing fit and he basically started bleeding in his chest,” she said.
Doctors performed CPR and tried replacing the ECMO tubes in her neck to increase her oxygen levels, causing the blood that had collected in her chest to spill over to the surgeons and walls. from the hospital, his mother said.
“It was everywhere with the cardiothoracic surgeon and he continued to work,” she said.
A team of 10 nurses and four doctors desperately tried to save him, but they couldn’t and Franek saw his son die.
Franek then received another heavy blow six weeks later when his sister died on December 7 from COVID-19.
Cyndi Crawford, a 57-year-old trauma nurse, had contracted the virus the week before Thanksgiving and was also put on a ventilator and administered by ECMO before she died.
“A single loss would have been heartbreaking on its own, but these two completely broke our hearts,” said Franek.
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Peyton lying in the hospital. On October 31, Peyton deteriorated rapidly and began to have a coughing fit and bleeding in his chest.
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Franek released the footage showing the aftermath of her son’s final moments as she begged people to take the pandemic seriously
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She said she wanted to share her son’s story to warn people to take the virus seriously as she said her family had been “very careful” during the pandemic but were still sick.
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Franek said she was shocked her son had died from COVID-19 because he is usually not as deadly for children.
“I never thought this was going to happen,” she says.
“You don’t hear about the kids who have contracted Covid and that it’s so bad. I was just in shock.
“I cannot describe this sudden and devastating loss.
Franek said she wanted to share her son’s story to warn people to take the virus seriously and not to view COVID-19 as a “political” thing.
“I hope people will take Covid more seriously and not say that this is a political agenda or some type of fake news or that it is the same as the flu”, a- she declared.
She said her family had been “very careful” during the pandemic but still got sick.
“We were very careful. If we ever went anywhere, we always wore masks and we always washed our hands and we used hand sanitizer and we still have Covid, ”she warned.
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Peyton’s distraught mother told The Sun that she tested positive for the virus on October 25 and that she and her son had started showing mild symptoms. On October 29, she took him to the hospital as his fingernails turned blue
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Doctors found his oxygen saturation level had dropped to 44% – less than half the level of a healthy person
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Franek told the outlet that she still thought “we’ll get over that bump and take it home.” But two days later, on October 31, Peyton died
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She said that while “every day is a struggle to get out of bed” she found some solace in reuniting with her ex Chris Lottmann who “was very close to Peyton”.
Franek paid tribute to his son by describing him as “the nicest boy” who “made everyone smile”.
A recent study from the American Academy of Pediatrics found that one million children had been diagnosed with COVID-19 as of November 12, or 11.5% of all cases in the United States at the time.
By this point, 133 children had died, meaning the death rate was 0.01%, while between 0.5% and 6.1% of all cases of COVID-19 in children resulted in hospitalization.
Children are generally at a lower risk of becoming seriously ill or dying from coronavirus, with the CDC reporting that the risk of serious illness increases with age.
Across the country, nearly 17.5 million people of all ages have been infected and 313,000 have died.
Hospitalizations reached record levels on Friday with 114,751 patients across America, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
Cases also increased by 228,825 in a single day, while an additional 2,751 people died.
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