A 29-year-old surgical technician who is due to get married this summer has died after not taking the COVID-19 vaccine for unfounded fears that it would make her infertile.
Samantha Wendell, 29, of Grand Rivers, Kentucky, was due to walk down the aisle in late August with her fiancé Austin Eskew, a correctional sergeant.
The CDC has confirmed that vaccination is safe for “people who are trying to get pregnant now or who may get pregnant in the future, as well as their partners.”
But still, Wendell hesitated. While waiting to decide, he took COVID-19.
He spent his wedding day on August 21 on a fan and died shortly afterwards.
“The misinformation killed her,” Wendell’s cousin Maria Vibandor Hayes told NBC News.
Samantha Wendell, 29, of Grand Rivers, Kentucky, was due 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 frightened by the vaccine because of the growing claim that the COVID-19 vaccine affects fertility.
Her cousin said her family is now telling her story in the hope that it won’t happen to anyone else.
“If we can save more lives and lives of families, this is the gift he let us deliver,” Vibandor said.
Tragically, despite his earlier hesitation, Wendell had turned the corner against the vaccine and decided to throw himself out after the delta variant increased, NBC News reported.
Wendell and her fiancé set up an appointment to get vaccinated in late July before their honeymoon in Mexico, but it would be too late.
Prior to her trip, she celebrated her bachelorette party in Nashville, and when she returned home, just a week before she and her fiancé were ready to get vaccinated, she began to feel ill, NBC reported. News.
“Samantha had a golden heart and when she thought of something, she would leave nothing in her way,” her obituary said.
He spent his wedding day on August 21 on a fan and died shortly afterwards
“She couldn’t stop coughing,” Eskew said, and when she started aspiring for air, she was taken to the hospital.
Both Wendell and Eskew, who had no underlying condition, tested positive for the virus, but Wendell suffered the most severe symptoms, and to try to stabilize her, doctors put her on a ventilator on Aug. 16, only five. days before being married.
Wendell’s mother told NBC News before getting on the fan, the 29-year-old asked her if she could get the vaccine.
“Obviously nothing would go right now,” Jeaneen Wendell said. “It weighs on my heart that this could have been easily avoided.”
Samantha Wendell, 29, of Kentucky, died after deciding to discontinue the vaccine after some of her co-workers told her the vaccine causes infertility.
Despite hopes that the wedding would only be delayed, not canceled, on September 10 Wendell’s family chose to retire from life support when doctors told them there was no chance of survival.
Now Wendell’s fiancé says he feels “lost” without his future girlfriend, with whom he had been since college.
“He had so much influence in everything I do,” he said. “We really didn’t do anything without keeping each other in mind.”
Now, instead of a wedding, her family is hosting a funeral set for Sept. 18.
Family and friends remember Wendell for his “heart of gold” and his determined spirit.
“Samantha loved her job as a surgical technician and rescued and raised numerous pets,” her obituary said. ‘She loved Christmas and crafting decorations for every holiday as well as surprises. Samantha loved to cross Lake Maxinkuckee and be with her many friends.
“Samantha had a heart of gold and when something was raised, she didn’t let anything get in the way,” the obituary added.
