I wrote this story last November but at the time decided not to post it. This is extremely sad, and I didn't feel and still don't feel that Lyndsi fits the SAV mold. Plus, I didn't want to have to monitor or even shut down the comment section because of comments that might attack Lyndsi. The Reddit HCAs were pretty insensitive and didn't look closely at the circumstances. (As you’ll read below, throughout most of her pregnancy the CDC was pretty wishy-washy on recommending vaccinations for pregnant women, and didn't put out an emergency declaration until after Lyndsi got COVID). Recently, however, one of our members sent me this article in the New York Times entitled I lost my baby. Then antivaxxers made my pain go viral. The author, Amanda Makulec, who was vaccinated while she was pregnant, had a baby who died 3 months after he was born. Autopsy showed it WASN'T due to her being vaccinated, but that didn't stop the anti-vaxx crowd from attacking her. She takes the position that someone’s pain shouldn't be used to push an agenda. Obviously, I disagree with that point, as long as the truth is being told and facts are being pursued. She does mention how these lies might impact other pregnant women’s poor decisions about the vaccine. SAV is using truth to help people make lifesaving decisions about the vaccine. Anyway, I've decided to post this very tragic story of Lyndsi as a warning to other mothers who might be struggling with the same decision.
Original Story (11/30/21):
According to this obituary, Lyndsi died on 11/6/21. She was 37 weeks pregnant when she was hospitalized on September 19, 2021. She underwent an emergency c-section that delivered Olivia Kaye Sullivan at a healthy 6 lbs 11ounces, and the next day was intubated. I've resisted writing blog posts about women who were pregnant, as COVID vaccine hesitancy is very understandable for a pregnant woman, especially since the CDC was vague about it's recommendations until August 11, 2021, when they upgraded their recommendations. They didn't put out an emergency declaration urging pregnant and breastfeeding women to get vaccinated until September 29, by which time Lyndsi already had COVID. Lyndsi did share some posts that were anti-mask, and one anti-vaxx, but that's normally not enough to earn a spot on SAV. I can only justify posting this because of the extreme tragedy, for such a young mother and her daughter who will never know her. One of the reasons for this site’s existence is that tragic stories can help prevent more tragic stories from happening. In a perfect world, every vaccine hesitant pregnant woman who reads this will understand that it's more dangerous not to be vaccinated than to get vaccinated. Granted, another big mistake Lyndsi made was having a baby shower during a pandemic at the height of the Delta variant wave in Louisiana.
As mentioned above, Lyndsi did re-post some memes that were anti-mask and one that was anti-vaxx:
She would've been about 6 months pregnant when she reposted this on June 16. Again, at this point the CDC was not clear on their recommendations for pregnant women. This is the only anti-vaxx post I could find :
She was against masks, which means she wasn't taking the pandemic very seriously. We've seen this meme many times. It's a meme, of course SHE didn't say this, but it does show ant-mask sentiment. Also, please understand this was in August of 2020:
Another one from September of 2020:
So, that's it. Like I said, these statements don't qualify her for a spot here.
She had a baby shower on September 11:
Its almost certain that she caught COVID at her baby shower as she tested positive three days later: She had an emergency c-section to save her baby Olivia.
Olivia is a beautiful little baby girl:
Her 20th day on ECMO:
There was humor and hope:
She made it through the night? Hoping for a miracle.
Looking better...
Less than 8 hours after the post above, Lyndsi died:
Lyndsi's sister Melody is raising Olivia. There is a go-fund me for Melody and Olivia. It'd make me happy if we could get the donations over their goal:
RIP Lyndsi.
NOTE: This is one of those stories where I might have to close down the comments. We'll see.