Mother dies from COVID-19 before ever holding new baby

ATLANTA, Ga. (WSB) – A mother in the Atlanta area never got the chance to hold her newborn baby. She died from COVID-19 two weeks after giving birth.

Her mother says 27-year-old Marrisha Jenkins would still be alive if she had been vaccinated.

“She was just loving. You know, you just, you felt happy every single time you got around her,” Myles Jenkins said of his wife.

Jenkins was just one month shy of her due date when doctors diagnosed her with COVID-19 and pneumonia.

Three days later, on Sept. 7, she and her husband welcomed their first child into this world. Jalen was born premature but healthy.

Unfortunately, Marrisha Jenkins was forced to quarantine before getting a chance to hold her little bundle of joy.

Her mother, Helena Kindred, said her daughter had been told her lungs were clear and sent home. She said Marrisha Jenkins had experienced some issues but didn’t expect what happened.

After spending two weeks recovering at home, Marrisha Jenkins was cleared to see Jalen. But as she and her husband were preparing to head to the hospital, Marrisha Jenkins suddenly stopped breathing.

“Myles was doing CPR before they got there. She coded in the ambulance. And when they got her to the hospital, she coded again. And at that time with no oxygen to the brain, it caused severe brain damage,” Kindred said.

The Jenkins family prayed for a medical miracle, but after speaking with her doctors they knew it was too late.

Family members said their goodbyes to the mother of three Thursday before removing her from life support.

“If we had been vaccinated, I truly believe she would not have died,” Kindred said.

Marrisha Jenkins was also the mother to a 5-year-old and 6-year-old.

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