The 17-year-old girl reportedly died of COVID-19 complications after family members reportedly begged her to get vaccinated against the virus. The family said the teen felt sick enough to go to the ER and was hospitalized with COVID-19. While hospitalized, the teen reportedly developed hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. Health officials say it’s a rare disease that causes the immune system to stop working properly.
The 17-year-old teen from California, Kennedy Stonum, reportedly refused to get the COVID-19 vaccine, her family says.
Her father, Lee, reportedly said: “Myself and my wife and her grandmother pleaded, pleaded with her I think like most teenagers, she felt indestructible. I know I did when I was that age. She didn’t know enough about the vaccine. She had done this calculus: ‘I’m young, I’m healthy, if this happens to me it won’t be that big a deal.’”
According to the Telegraph, Kennedy’s grandmother from Ohio, Marilyn, reportedly said: “I pleaded with her, actually. Probably not the right tone to take, but what do you do? And she would say politely, I’ll think about it. But her circle of friends, by and large, were not vaccinated. ”
The family said the 17-year-old girl felt sick enough to go to the ER and was hospitalized with COVID-19. While hospitalized, the teen reportedly developed hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. Health officials say it’s a rare disease that causes the immune system to stop working properly and organs to swell.
As her health deteriorated, on Feb. 11, the medical personnel reportedly found a major brain bleed. Her family reportedly chose to take her off life support that same day and she died shortly after.
The 17-year-old girl was an employee of Selma’s Pizza & Tap Room, according to her family.
The restaurant released the following statement on Facebook: “We are all saddened by this sudden loss and send our condolences to Kennedy’s family and friends. Our thoughts are with Kennedy’s family, friends, and all affected by this tragic loss.”
Kennedy’s family members are urging others to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. Kennedy’s father told SacBee: “I want to tell them to trust the science. I want to tell them that YouTube and TikTok aren’t research.
I want to tell them that even if it’s a one in a million chance, those statistics don’t matter when it’s your child. What happened to Kennedy was exceedingly unlikely and very, very rare and none of that matters to me now.”