Mom of Hospitalized 13-Year-Old Regrets Not Getting Her Daughter or Herself Vaccinated

One mom in Arkansas is kicking herself for not going through with getting her daughter vaccinated for COVID-19. Her 13-year-old is currently fighting for her life at Arkansas Children’s Hospital after coming down with the virus.

The mom, Angela Morris, made the choice not to get her daughter, Caia, vaccinated, but is now very much regretting that decision. She has been in the hospital for 12 days, needing help breathing from a ventilator—and it’s been very hard to watch.

“It’s very hard to see her in this situation. It’s very hard not knowing if she’s really going to come home anymore or not,” Morris said. “It’s heartbreaking. I wish I would’ve made better choices for her.”

At first, Caia just had some flu-like symptoms, but it has become much more serious as time has gone on.

Morris had decided to forgo vaccinations for multiple reasons—one being that she figured since they were home a lot and were masks when out that they didn’t need it, and two, that if they did get it, they would recover and be fine.

“I really thought that since she stayed home a lot and when I went out, I always wore my mask. I really thought that she was going to be protected,” she said. “I just had a false sense of security that it was just like the flu and it wasn’t that serious. Obviously it is that serious and it was that serious. Now, I can see.”

While cases had been down for a bit, the new Delta variant is causing them to surge, especially in Arkansas.

“This is looking more like what we saw this winter and less of what we had been seeing during the springtime,” said Dr. Jessica Snowden, Arkansas Children’s Hospital Chief of Infectious Diseases. “This is looking more like what we saw this winter and less of what we had been seeing during the springtime.”

Snowden said that even super healthy children of different age ranges are getting sent to the hospital because of this variant—”so it is definitely something that could impact anyone,” she warns.

Morris is speaking out about her daughter because she doesn’t want others to have to go through the same thing, and wants people to understand how the virus can affect kids and teenagers.

“I just want people to get their kids their shots. Everybody just needs to get the shot. It’s a much better route than the one we’re in,” she said.

Check out the video below to hear from Mom herself.

We’re praying for a quick recovery fro Caia!