Samantha Wendell couldn’t wait for her wedding this summer. For nearly two years, the 29-year-old surgical technician had been meticulously planning every detail, from the seating table to the Tiffany blue floral arrangements, said her fiancé, Austin Eskew.
Wendell and Eskew wanted to form a family as soon as they got married, said Eskew, a correctional sergeant. The couple, from Grand Rivers, Kentucky, hoped to finally have three, maybe four, children.
So when the Covid-19 vaccines came out and some of Wendell’s co-workers said the shots caused infertility, an unfounded claim that has gained ground despite major reproductive health groups refuting it. dit.
Wendell decided he should stop vaccination. It was a choice that cost him his life: instead of attending his wedding, which was supposed to be on August 21, his family is now planning his funeral.
The funeral will take place this weekend at a church in Lisle, Illinois, near where Wendell’s parents live. It was the church where she and Eskew were going to get married, and the same place where Wendell’s parents had gotten married.
“We dug up photos of our wedding,” her mother, Jeaneen Wendell, said. “I was really looking forward to seeing the comparison images.”
What was supposed to be a moment of celebration turned into six harrowing weeks as the family watched as Wendell, an outgoing woman who loved animals and easily befriended everyone she knew, struggled with Covid-19, they said.
Wendell’s fiancé, his mother and a cousin told NBC News that they shared his story because they were sure he would have wanted other people to learn from his mistake.
“The misinformation killed her,” said Maria Vibandor Hayes, 39, a cousin who lives in New Orleans and fired FaceTime before Wendell died Sept. 10. “If we can save more lives and that of families, this is the gift he left us to deliver.”
Despite her initial hesitation, Wendell herself had recently changed her stance on the vaccine.
As the delta variant spread, causing an increase in cases and established restrictions for those who were not vaccinated, he concluded in early July that it made sense to get vaccinated before the couple’s honeymoon in Mexico. .
She and Eskew got vaccination appointments in late July. Meanwhile, wedding preparations continued: dress accessories, menu tastings, and a bachelorette party in Nashville, Tennessee.
Just after returning from Nashville, and less than a week before they were to be vaccinated, Wendell began to feel ill.
“I couldn’t stop coughing,” Eskew said.
Both tested positive for coronavirus, leaving them ineligible for their shots until they recovered. It was an opportunity Wendell never had.
Neither Wendell nor Eskew had any underlying disease, Eskew said. He suffered from a high fever and was able to treat Covid’s symptoms at home, but Wendell continued to decline. About a week after her illness, while looking for air, her fiancé knew she needed to go to the hospital.
Doctors tried to stabilize her with limited success. On August 16, five days before he got married, a fan was put on him. The wedding was postponed, hoping it could happen later this year.
But Wendell did not regain the ability to breathe on her own. Last Friday, after several doctors told her family she had no chance of survival, her loved ones made the cruel decision to disconnect her from life support.
“This could have been easily avoided”
Vibandor Hayes remembered Wendell as someone who “made the sweetest hugs” and always laughed. When Vibandor Hayes called her to say goodbye, she said she was expecting a miracle.
“Not being able to see that smile and hear that laugh was so heartbreaking and traumatic,” he said. “All I could repeat was, ‘I love you, I love you, I love you.'”
Wendell’s death has left Eskew lost. The two had been together since college, meeting during the freshman year orientation, and were delighted to begin life as husband and wife.
“She had so much influence in everything I do,” she said, recalling a time when she went to buy groceries earlier this week and wasn’t sure what to get, as it had always been a joint task that shared with Wendell. “We really didn’t do anything without keeping each other in mind.”
“We really didn’t do anything without keeping each other in mind.”
The myth that Covid vaccines can affect fertility is widespread. Earlier this month, ESPN journalist Allison Williams made headlines when she announced she would stop working, which requires employees to get vaccinated, because she and her husband are trying to conceive a second child and don’t want to get fired. .
There is currently no evidence that the Covid vaccine or any other vaccine causes fertility problems in men or women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which recommends the vaccine to everyone who can participate, including “people pregnant, breastfeeding, trying to get pregnant now or she may get pregnant in the future. “
For women who are already pregnant, the benefits of receiving the vaccination outweigh the risk, according to the CDC, based on data showing that pregnant women are at higher risk for serious Covid disease.
Before putting her on the ventilator, Wendell asked doctors at the hospital if she could receive a vaccine against Covid, her mother said.
“Obviously I wasn’t going to do anything right now,” Jeaneen Wendell said. “It weighs on my heart that this could have been easily avoided.”