TULSA, Okla. (KFOR)- A three-year-old toddler is fighting to breath in a Tulsa hospital. Her mother is now speaking out about the “price of personal responsibility.”
“She doesn’t know why her family can’t be here with her. So, emotionally, it’s really hard,” said RN Amelia Cannon.
Cannon is questioning what it will take for unvaccinated Oklahomans to recognize their impact on children like her daughter.
A video of three-year-old Aurora has been shared thousands of times on social media. She’s receiving life-saving oxygen.
“When you see a three-year-old struggling to breathe, there’s got to be something in your heart that tells you ‘what can I do to help?'” said Cannon.
Cannon is not only feeling regret but also guilt after the toddler contracted COVID-19. The fully vaccinated mom told KFOR she exposed her daughter to the virus after catching it from one of her patients.
It’s a lot of what ifs on my part. Like, maybe if more people will be vaccinated, I wouldn’t have had the exposure that caused me to bring this illness to my daughter,” said Cannon.
Cannon told KFOR unvaccinated people are ultimately responsible for her daughter’s fight to live. Aurora has been lying in a hospital bed since last Wednesday, fighting COVID and pneumonia. At one point, Aurora’s fever reached 106.
“It’s tough seeing what I’ve seen for the past 18 months and then watching my daughter go through it and seeing her get worse,” said Cannon.
Fifty-six of Oklahoma’s nearly 1,500 hospitalizations are children. As of Friday, more than 2,800 cases were reported and another 19 Oklahomans have died.
A local physician told KFOR the Delta variant is spreading rapidly among young people. The Oklahoma Health Department reports the youngest COVID patient is under the age of one.
“Viruses don’t have a political affiliation. Viruses aren’t based on money, and we don’t care where this virus came from,” said Melinda Cail. “We don’t care about conspiracy theories.”
Aurora’s mom shared a clip of the treatment to shake free mucus in her lungs. Cannon told KFOR people who refuse to get the vaccine put kids like her daughter in this condition.
“I have to take care of them, and then I am exposing myself, and that’s how, in turn, I brought it to my daughter,” said Cannon. “Because maybe if they would’ve received a vaccine, they could’ve stayed home. They didn’t have to get treatment in the hospital, and I wouldn’t have that exposure, and I wouldn’t have brought it home to my daughter.”
