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Nurse issues warning against Covid misinformation after her anti-vaxxer mother dies of virus aged 57

Amy Crosby, who has worked on vaccine rollout, shares tragic story in hope jab sceptics may change mind

Daniel Keane
Sunday 22 August 2021 10:34 BST
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Amy Crosby, right, said mum Geraldine Mount, left, who had no pre-existing health conditions, passed away from the virus at the same hospital where she has been working on the vaccine rollout
Amy Crosby, right, said mum Geraldine Mount, left, who had no pre-existing health conditions, passed away from the virus at the same hospital where she has been working on the vaccine rollout (Amy Crosby/Twitter)

A nurse has issued a warning against coronavirus misinformation after her anti-vaxxer mother died of the disease aged just 57.

Amy Crosby said her mother Geraldine Mount, who had no pre-existing health conditions, passed away from the virus at the same hospital where she has been working on the vaccine rollout.

In a Twitter post on Thursday, the 34-year-old nurse, who works at James Cook University Hospital in Middlesbrough, admitted that her relationship with her mother had become “strained” in the past 18 months due to her belief that the virus didn’t exist.

Amy said she was sharing the post in the hope it may prevent others from falling prey to dangerous misinformation around coronavirus and vaccines.

She wrote: “We have had a strained relationship over the last 18 months and some of this was due to her beliefs that Covid-19 isn’t real and that vaccines are dangerous.

“Today in hospital she died of complications caused by Covid, she spent the last month of her life without any family around her and her last memories were of sheer terror at having to be intubated and not knowing if she would wake up.

“As a nurse whose been working on the Covid vaccine rollout at the same hospital she died at today, I can’t tell you how painful this preventable loss is for our family.

“If any good can come from this, it is that hopefully in sharing her story and our pain, even just one person with these ludicrous dangerous beliefs can rethink, reconsider sharing this warped ‘evidence’ and get the vaccine to prevent their families having to go through what we are now.

“I will be eternally thankful for the staff of James Cook Hospital who battled so desperately to save her. You are all heroes.”

She finished her message by writing: “Good night Mam, I love you and will remember the happier times, I hope you are at peace now.”

Around 87.4 per cent of British adults have received at least one coronavirus jab, and some 76.4 per cent are now fully vaccinated.

It follows the story of Leslie Lawrenson, a healthy 58-year-old who died from the virus after refusing to get vaccinated. Leslie, from Bournemouth, died at his home on July 2 after downplaying his symptoms and denying he needed to go to hospital.

His long-term partner Amanda Mitchell, 56, who was severely ill with the virus at the time, said he believed the vaccines were too “experimental” and put his family at risk.

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