38-Year-Old Milwaukee Mom Dies Of COVID-19 Three Days After Emergency C-Section

KEY POINTS

Her family said she never got to meet her newborn
It is unclear whether she was vaccinated
Her son Roman, born last week, is healthy

A 38-year-old Milwaukee woman died of COVID-19, three days after giving birth to a baby via c-section. Her family said she never got to meet her newborn.

Adrienne Chandler of West Bend died this Tuesday after battling the virus. She was intubated for days before her death, Chandler's boyfriend Ryan Emperley told WISN.

He added that the doctors transferred her to Ascension Columbia St Mary's Hospital after the emergency c-section but she succumbed to the infection. Luckily, the baby, Roman, is healthy.

Though the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner's office confirmed she died from COVID-19 at the hospital, it is unclear how she contracted the virus, and if she was vaccinated or not, the report added.

According to Adrienne's ex-husband David Henderson, their children are hurt for "not being able to say goodbye probably how they wanted."

“On Tuesday, when I had to tell them, it was probably the worst day of my life. A lot of questions came from them about what happened, and what was going to happen. A lot I don’t know I had answers to, but I tried to be as honest and forthcoming as I could," Henderson told WISN.

The couple has three kids together, 11-year-old Olivia, 9-year-old Mariah and 8-year-old Calvin. He said the kids are especially upset their mom won't be around for Christmas.

Henderson described Chandler as a "social butterfly." "The impact she made to a lot of people’s lives is apparent from all the messages and stuff I’ve gotten over the past couple days," Henderson said.

"She’d do a lot of baking to help families out going through situations like this, [and] would always extend a helping hand if somebody was in trouble, and help anyway she could," he added.

Chandler's family and friends have started a GoFundMe page for the benefit of the children. "Adrienne had been expecting her fourth child and was super excited to welcome him into the family. Adrienne went in for an emergency c-section that she needed because of worsening COVID and did not make it through," the page read.

As per recent figures, there were 618 new confirmed cases in Milwaukee County, taking the total number to 162,672. So far, the county registered 1,703 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic. According to health officials, Wisconsin has the fourth-worst rate of COVID positivity in the country.