"(She) fought and fought for her daughter, who she never got to meet," family members told local ABC affiliate WSOC.
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Vicky Goodson was a cafeteria worker at an elementary school in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools district. According to her family, she took many precautions against COVID-19, including wearing a mask while indoors.
But she was hesitant to get vaccinated while pregnant.
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Then on Sept. 3, she started struggling to breathe and had to be admitted to the hospital.
A few days later, doctors performed an emergency C-section while Goodson was unconscious. Her baby spent two weeks in the NICU before going home with relatives who will now have to tell her stories about the mother she will never meet.
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Family members hope Goodson's story will encourage other expecting mothers to get vaccinated.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued an urgent warning in September after new data showed more than 125,000 pregnant people tested positive for COVID-19, with 22,000 of those cases resulting in hospitalization and 161 of them ending in death.
In August alone, 22 pregnant women died from COVID-19, according to the CDC. Plus, in surviving mothers, COVID-19 has also been linked to preterm birth, stillbirth and the newborn arriving with COVID-19 and having to be admitted to the ICU.
The COVID-19 vaccine has been proven safe and effective for pregnant mothers.