Mom dies of COVID week after birth, Indiana family says. ‘Held on long enough for him’

Kristen Roy will not see her baby boy grow up.

The 38-year-old Indiana mom was pregnant with her son Elijah when she was diagnosed with COVID-19 in July and within a week she was admitted to the hospital, her family said. With pneumonia in both lungs, Roy was intubated and transferred to a hospital in Indianapolis.

“Her pneumonia is very severe,” her newlywed husband, Mathew Roy, posted on Facebook. “They have maxed all the treatments they can do for her right now. She just needs lots of rest.”

Despite full medical support, Roy’s health worsened and on Aug. 13 doctors rushed to perform an emergency C-section to save the life of her unborn baby, her husband said.

Elijah was born premature but “miraculously through all the odds” both survived the surgery, he said

But Roy was unable to survive much longer. About a week later, she died with her husband at her side.

Courtney Burke told WTHR that her sister battled on life support while her baby developed to a point he could be born at 25 weeks.

“I believe that she saved his life,” Burke told WTHR. “She held on long enough for him to be born.”

Burke said her sister was unsure about vaccinating against COVID-19 but scheduled an appointment after her doctor recommended she be immunized, WTHR reported. But she tested positive on July 9 before receiving the vaccine, the news outlet reported.

It was about another month before the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommended pregnant women be vaccinated.

“It was too late for her, but it’s not too late for so many other pregnant women out there. It’s not. It’s not too late yet,” Burke told WTHR.

This story was originally published September 3, 2021 at 4:55 PM with the headline "Mom dies of COVID week after birth, Indiana family says. ‘Held on long enough for him’."