A fifteen-year-old girl from Illinois has died from COVID-19 just two days after testing positive for the disease.
Dykota Morgan, a freshman at Bolingbrook High School, had recently celebrated her fifteenth birthday. But on Sunday, the teen told her parents that she was not feeling good.
"Sunday, we were out early and she called us and said she woke up feeling dizzy and weak and she was coughing on the phone," Krystal Morgan, the girl's mother, told WGN9.
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The family said their daughter, who excelled in school and athletics, had no known pre-existing conditions and had been perfectly healthy until recently, although she had complained of a headache on Saturday, CBS Chicago reported.
Her condition appeared to worsen over the course of the weekend and the teen's parents started to become more concerned.
"She just wasn't doing good, she was too tired and the cough and the fever, so by about 5 o'clock I said I'm going to get you a COVID test because I'm kind of worried you might have COVID," Krystal Morgan told WGN9.
On Sunday, the fifteen-year-old took a rapid COVID test, which her mother had bought, and the result turned out to be positive. Her older sister also tested positive for the disease.
By Monday, the teen's condition had deteriorated so much that she had to be hospitalized at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital in Winfield, Illinois.
Early on Tuesday morning, Dykota Morgan passed away.
"She was perfectly healthy... and she got COVID and it took her," the girls' father, Rashad Bingham, told WGN9.
The family spoke of their distress at losing their daughter.
"When they told me my baby was gone, I fell on the floor and I cried and I cried and I screamed, I just couldn't believe it—and the doctor fell on the floor with me and cried with me and held me," Krystal Morgan told WGN9.
"Losing her is going to leave a void in everybody who knew her—everybody in the family, from the coaches and teachers to her friends and family—I feel for everybody because I understand exactly what they're going through because I'm going through it as well," the mother told CBS.
Following their daughter's death, the family said they wanted to raise awareness that children are not immune to the risks posed by the virus. In addition, they urged parents to vaccinate their children once the shot becomes available for younger age groups.
"As soon as it's available to the babies, I think they should do it, do it because you just never know, I didn't expect this. She was healthy, I feel like, I don't know I just feel like I was robbed, I was robbed," her mother told WGN9.
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Stock image showing an artist's illustration of a coronavirus particle. A teen from Illinois has died from COVID-19 just two days after testing positive for the disease.Stock image showing an artist's illustration of a coronavirus particle. A teen from Illinois has died from COVID-19 just two days after testing positive for the disease.iStock
