Pregnant nurse dies of COVID, Alabama family says. ‘Cannot describe the devastation’
A 32-year-old Alabama mom was working as a labor and delivery nurse before she was put on a ventilator.
“Haley touched so many lives during her life,” mother-in-law Donna Busby Richardson wrote in a Facebook post. “We want her story to continue to touch lives.”
Haley Richardson was about six months pregnant when she contracted COVID-19 and was taken to a hospital in early August, her family said. She and her unborn daughter, Ryleigh Beth, died last week, just two days apart.
“A few days ago we were mourning the loss of our sweet (angel), never in a million years would I have thought I would be mourning the loss of your beautiful soul along with her,” the nurse’s husband, Jordan Richardson, wrote in a Facebook post. “Words cannot describe the devastation that I feel.”
He said his wife — who worked at Ascension Sacred Heart hospital in Pensacola, Florida — hadn’t gotten a COVID-19 vaccine, WKRG reported.
“We were just worried that there may be complications from that standpoint with having a baby and once she was pregnant, so she was not vaccinated,” Jordan Richardson told WKRG. “I think she would have advocated for it though, knowing this would be the outcome.”
In addition to leaving behind her husband, Haley Richardson had a 2-year-old girl, the TV station reported. The Mobile-area mom was known for her kindness and uplifting spirit, according to her Facebook page and a GoFundMe page that says it is raising money for her family.
In Richardson’s last public Facebook post, she thanked people for their support while acknowledging the hardships ahead.
“Jordan, and I are so overwhelmed not only with what we face in the coming days, but also by this unbelievable outpouring of love and and support from family and friends both personal and from our work families,” she wrote on Aug. 9. “You all are lifting us up in ways you can never fathom.”
In the days that followed, her mother-in-law reported the 32-year-old nurse was on a ventilator. Her condition had started to improve in mid-August but her lungs and kidneys eventually took a turn for the worse.
“We had the rug pulled out from under us again,” Donna Busby Richardson wrote on Aug. 17. “When they put her on her back her oxygen saturation dropped very low. Her chest x ray looks worse.”
The following day, she wrote that Ryleigh Beth had died. Hayley died two days later, her mother-in-law said.
On Aug. 11, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its COVID-19 vaccine guidance for pregnant women. Anyone who is expecting a baby is urged to get a shot, as data show the benefits of being vaccinated is greater than the possible risks.
As of Saturday, every Alabama county had a “high” level of coronavirus transmission, according to the CDC. To help stop the spread of the disease, health officials encourage everyone in “high” or “substantial” transmission areas to wear face masks in public places, McClatchy News previously reported.
This story was originally published August 23, 2021 at 10:57 AM with the headline "Pregnant nurse dies of COVID, Alabama family says. ‘Cannot describe the devastation’."
