‘Trade my life for her.’ Family mourns Arizona mom of 3 who died of COVID
An Arizona mother of three has died after fighting COVID-19 for more than three months, her fiance told FOX10.
Lareesia Wright, 30, passed away on Christmas morning, leaving behind her fiance Maurice Turner and three children. She had COVID-19 while she was pregnant with her third child and when she gave birth to him prematurely, she could not hold him, Turner told FOX 10.
According to Turner’s written statement on his GoFund Me page, Wright had been in a coma in the ICU fighting COVID. He didn’t hear her voice for four months, he wrote.
Their other two sons are 3 and 12 years old, and the rest of Wright’s family lived in Memphis, Turner said.
“We decided to let our 12 year old go back to school this year and she came home sick. We all ended up getting sick but Weedie did not get better,” Turner said on the fundraising page. “We had to have our son 5 weeks early because Weedie was positive and they did not want to risk the baby getting Covid, but also they could not begin her treatment while she was pregnant.”
According to FOX 10, Turner said that the family had taken COVID-19 seriously and worn masks. They hesitated to get vaccinated while Wright was pregnant, Turner told the news station, but he has since received his shot.
“I hate that she had to go through this for it to really open up my eyes, but I knew what I had to do,” he said to FOX 10.
On his Facebook page, Turner remembered Wright and their time together, noting that she had spent 111 days fighting against the infection. She had almost flat-lined several times during the past several months, he said, and added that it was the most difficult four months of his life.
One of the last posts on Wright’s Facebook is of her dancing and pregnant. According to Turner, their third child was born on Aug. 27.
“For anyone who still thinks COVID is not real, I have lived this nightmare for the past four months.,” Turner wrote on his Facebook post.
According to a study from the University of Washington School of Medicine in April 2021, pregnant woman worldwide are 20 times more likely to die if they contract COVID-19 compared to those who were not infected.
”The No. 1 takeaway from the research is that pregnant women are no more likely to get COVID-19, but if they get it, they are more likely to become very ill and more likely to require ICU care, ventilation, or experience preterm birth and preeclampsia,” study author Dr. Michael Gravett said.
Turner’s GoFundMe, which began during Wright’s treatment to help with medical and family support, has raised more than its original goal, with over 200 donors.
“Taken away from us on Christmas Day, lord why?” Turner wrote in a stream on consciousness on the page. “I wish I could trade places and go through all that pain for you so that you could live to be with your babies. I swear I would.”
This story was originally published January 3, 2022 at 10:09 AM with the headline "‘Trade my life for her.’ Family mourns Arizona mom of 3 who died of COVID."
