Story By: Ernest Bio Bogore, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Newsflash
The mother of a 16-year-old girl who has become France’s youngest coronavirus victim has said her daughter’s death is “hard to take” after revealing doctors had told her things would be “okay”.
France’s Director-General of Health Jerome Salomon announced “the death of a 16-year-old girl” among the 365 deaths that had occurred in French hospitals in the past 24 hours.
Local media have identified the victim as Julie A. from Corbeil-Essonnes in the Essonne department south of the French capital Paris and say she showed symptoms of COVID-19 when she started to feel out of breath on 21st March.
Her mother, Sabine says that since Thursday night, television headlines have been reminding her on a loop that a 16-year-old girl died of coronavirus. She says: “It’s horrible because I know she’s my daughter.”
She continues: “It’s hard to take it.”
Speaking about the girl’s condition before she died, Sabine told local media: “It wasn’t a big deal, she had difficulty catching her breath.”
Reports say that the coughing fits caused Sabine to take her daughter, who has no previous particular health problems, to the doctor on 23rd March.
According to the reports, the med found an “acceptable” respiratory impairment and decided to call the emergency services with firefighters then taking Julie to the nearest hospital in Longjumeau, in the southern suburbs of Paris where she was tested for COVID-19.
Julie then suffered respiratory failure that evening and was transferred to the Necker Children’s Hospital in Paris where two more COVID-19 tests were carried out.
Sabine says that when she visited her daughter, she was anxious, “she spoke but got tired quickly” and says Julie told her: “I have a pain in my heart.”
The mother said that the results of the last two COVID-19, which she received before the results of the first test, were negative.
She says: “They opened the bedroom door, the nurses didn’t wear scrubs, the doctor gave me a thumbs up and said it’s okay.”
Reports state Sabine decided to go home and visit her daughter the next day. It was reportedly late at night when the results of the first test were then communicated to her by telephone.
According to the reports, the test was positive and Julie had to be intubated.
Sabine says, “We didn’t believe it. We told ourselves that they made a mistake. And why are these results coming so late?”
Manon, Julie’s elder sister, says: “From the beginning, we were told that the virus doesn’t affect young people. We believed it, just like everyone else.”
Sabine says it was at 12:30 the same night that she received a phone call saying: “Come, quick!’. That’s when I panicked. There are words that make you understand.”
Professor Jerome Salomon, who announced the death of the girl on Thursday night, said Julie was a victim of a severe form of the virus that is “extremely rare” among young people.
Sabine says she was told that it was impossible to retrieve the girl’s belongings as everything must be burned. However, Sabine and Manon managed to keep a baptismal chain and one of Julie’s bracelets.
According to reports, Julie’s body is in the mortuary room of the Necker hospital. It will not leave the mortuary until the funeral, which is scheduled for a few days from now. As a precautionary measure, there will be no ceremony, only ten people will be present at the cemetery.
Manon said: “We had to choose who will be present from among our loved ones. On the day of her death, we already had to choose a coffin for her.
This coffin will have to remain closed and Julie “will not be dressed or made up, we are not allowed”.
The ViralTab page is created by and dedicated to professional, independent freelance journalists. It is a place for us to showcase our work. When our news is sold to our media partners, we will include the link here.
