Texas doctor, 28, dies from coronavirus after becoming infected while treating positive patients in the ER and suffering a 'massive brain bleed' after months-long illness
A young Texas doctor, 28, has died from coronavirus after becoming infected treating positive patients in a hospital emergency room and suffering a 'massive brain bleed'.
Adeline Fagan, an OB/GYN doctor originally from LaFayette, New York, died Saturday morning following a two month battle with COVID-19.
Fagan had taken a turn for the worse hours after her family said she was 'doing wonderfully' in her fight against the deadly virus.
Her devastated family announced the tragic news on a GoFundMe page set up to help pay for the doctor's medical expenses.
Adeline Fagan (pictured), a 28-year-old Texas doctor, has died of a 'massive brain bleed' following a two month battle with COVID-19, after she became infected with the deadly virus while treating positive patients in a hospital emergency room
Fagan was in her second year of residency at a hospital in Houston, when she became sick back in July.
The doctor, who had a history of asthma, worked in the OB/GYN unit delivering babies but was working shifts in the ER treating COVID-19 patients as the state's hospitals buckled under the weight of soaring cases and deaths.
During a 12-hour shift on July 8, Fagan began feeling 'under the weather' with flu-like symptoms, according to the GoFundMe page.
She tested positive for COVID-19 and her condition deteriorated, leading to her being hospitalized.
Fagan spent several weeks in hospital, with doctors giving her several drugs and respiratory therapies to help her overcome the virus.
She was intubated and placed on a ventilator on August 3 as her lungs could no longer support her, the GoFundMe post read.
The following day doctors 'took the last remaining step available' and placed Fagan on ECMO, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, to oxygenate her blood because she was 'not responding well to the ventilator'.
Fagan, an OB/GYN doctor originally from LaFayette, New York, died Saturday morning, hours after a nurse found her unresponsive and she was rushed for emergency surgery
Fagan's devastated family announced the news of her death on a GoFundMe set up to help pay for the doctor's medical expenses in her fight against the virus
Her sister Maureen wrote on the GoFundMe that the family expected her to be on the ventilator and ECMO for at least six to eight weeks while her lungs healed from the virus.
Maureen described her sister as a 'fighter' who had 'set her mind to surviving this virus'.
Brant, the doctor's dad, posted an update on the GoFundMe page Saturday announcing Fagan had died early that morning.
He said his daughter had been 'doing wonderfully for the last few days' and the family got a 'good report' on her condition just minutes before she suddenly worsened.
'As we settled down for the night 30 minutes later, the phone rang - Houston, TX,' he wrote.
A nurse had found Fagan 'unresponsive' and she was rushed for a CT scan that showed she had suffered a 'massive brain bleed'.
She needed emergency surgery and doctors warned her chances of survival were limited.
'The neurosurgeon said it was a '1 in a million' chance she would even survive the procedure, but that Adeline would have several severe cognitive and sensory limitations if she did survive,' he wrote.
A brain bleed can be a side effect of the ECMO, he explained.
'Everyone was crushed by the events, the nurses, the doctors, and, of course, us. The doctor said they have seen this type of event in COVID patients that spend time on ECMO,' Brant wrote.
'The vascular system is also compromised by the virus, resulting in bleeds. We spent the remaining minutes hugging, comforting, and talking to Adeline. And then the world stopped.'
Brant wrote of the family's heartache when their 'world stopped' and paid tribute to his daughter, urging others to 'be an 'Adeline' in the world'.
'The time the world stopped for a moment and will never be the same. Our beautiful daughter, sister, friend, physician, Adeline Marie Fagan, MD passed away,' he wrote.
'If you can do one thing, be an 'Adeline' in the world. Be passionate about helping others less fortunate, have a smile on your face, a laugh in your heart, and a Disney tune on your lips,' he wrote.
Fagan's death comes as cases have topped 729,284 and the death toll reached 14,843 in hard-hit Texas.
Across America, the death toll has now topped 200,000 and more than 6.8 million people have been infected.
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