Unvaccinated Mother Dies From COVID After Giving Birth to Fourth Child

An unvaccinated mother in Wisconsin died from COVID-19 just days after giving birth to her fourth child at the end of November.

When 38-year-old Adrienne Chandler became ill with the coronavirus, doctors decided she needed to be intubated and performed a C-section to save the baby, local station WISN-TV reported. She gave birth to a healthy infant named Roman.

But three days later, on November 30, Chandler died from kidney failure related to the illness, David Henderson, her ex-husband, wrote in a Facebook post.

She first began showing symptoms about two weeks ago, WDJT-TV, another local station, reported.

Family and friends are remembering Chandler as "a beautiful human being" known for "her contagious laugh, being a friend who would be there for you no matter what," according to a GoFundMe account set up for her family. It had raised more than $17,000 as of Tuesday morning.

Henderson told WISN that telling their children about their mother's death was "probably the worst day" of his life. He said the kids are upset that she will not be around for Christmas and that they could not say goodbye the way they wanted.

"The impact she made to a lot of people's lives is apparent from all the messages and stuff I've gotten over the past couple days," Henderson told the station. "She'd do a lot of baking to help families out going through situations like this [and] would always extend a helping hand if somebody was in trouble and help anyway she could."

The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's Office confirmed to WDJT that Chandler died of COVID-19 and was not vaccinated.

Her boyfriend, Ryan Emperley, told WDJT: "She has a beautiful soul and my heart will always belong to her. She had a smile that would light a room and bring the absolute joy to everyone's life."

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all pregnant women get a COVID-19 vaccine. Pregnancy can lead to increased risk for severe illness from the virus, and pregnant women are at an increased risk of preterm birth and stillbirth, the CDC says.

Data suggests that "the benefits of receiving a COVID-19 vaccine outweigh any known or potential risks of vaccination during pregnancy," the CDC says.

In similar news, a 26-year-old woman from Italy died after becoming ill with the virus while pregnant in August. Doctors delivered Antonietta Delli Santi's baby prematurely, but her daughter died a few days later. The mother's death followed in November.