A 29-year-old surgical technician set to be married this summer has died after not taking the COVID-19 vaccination over unfounded fears it would make her infertile.
Samantha Wendell, 29, of Grand Rivers, Kentucky was set to walk down the aisle in late August with her fiancé Austin Eskew, a correctional sergeant.
The CDC has confirmed the vaccination is safe for ‘people who are trying to get pregnant now or might become pregnant in the future, as well as their partners.’
But still, Wendell was hesitant. While she waited to make up her mind, she caught COVID-19.
She spent her August 21 wedding day on a ventilator and died a short time later.
‘Misinformation killed her,’ Wendell’s cousin Maria Vibandor Hayes told NBC News.
Samantha Wendell, 29, of Grand Rivers, Kentucky was set to walk down the aisle in late August with her fiancé Austin Eskew, a correctional sergeant
Wendell, who wanted to have three to four children, was scared off the vaccine due to the ever-growing claim that the COVID-19 vaccine effects fertility
Her cousin said her family is now telling her story in the hopes that it wont happen to someone else.
‘If we can save more lives and families’ lives, then this is the gift that she left for us to deliver,’ Vibandor said.
Tragically, despite her earlier hesitancy Wendell had turned a corner on the vaccine and decided to get the shot after the delta variant surge, NBC News reported.
Wendell and her fiancé set an appointment to be vaccinated for the end of July ahead of her honeymoon in Mexico, but it would be too late.
Before her trip she held her bachelorette party in Nashville and when she returned home, just a week before she and her fiancé were set to get vaccinated, she began feeling sick, NBC News reported.
‘Samantha had a heart of gold and when she set her mind on something, she let nothing stand in her way,’ her obituary read.
She spent her August 21 wedding day on a ventilator and died a short time later
‘She could not stop coughing,’ Eskew said and when she began gasping for air, she was taken to the hospital.
Both Wendell and Eskew, who both had no underlying conditions, tested positive for the virus, but Wendell suffered the more serious symptoms and in a bid to stabilize her, doctors put her on a ventilator on August 16, just five days before she was set to be married.
Wendell’s mother told NBC News before being put on the ventilator the 29-year-old asked if she could receive the vaccine.
‘It wasn’t going to do any good at that point, obviously,’ Jeaneen Wendell said. ‘It just weighs heavy on my heart that this could have easily been avoided.’
Samantha Wendell, 29, of Kentucky died after she decided to hold off on getting the vaccine after some of her co-workers told her the vaccine causes infertility
Despite hopes the wedding would only be delayed, not cancelled, on September 10 Wendell’s family made the choice to take her off life support when doctors told them there was no chance for survival.
Now Wendell’s fiancé says he feels ‘lost’ without his future bride, who he had been with since college.
‘She had so much influence in everything that I do,’ he said. ‘We didn’t really ever do anything without the other in mind.’
Now instead of a wedding her family is hosting a funeral set for September 18.
Family and friends remember Wendell for her ‘heart of gold’ and her determinate spirit.
‘Samantha loved her job as a surgical technician and she rescued and raised numerous pets, her obituary said. ‘She loved Christmas and elaborate decorations for all the holidays, as well as surprises. Samantha loved her time at Lake Maxinkuckee and hanging out with her many friends.’
‘Samantha had a heart of gold and when she set her mind on something, she let nothing stand in her way,’ the obituary added.
