A Lexington County family is working to get COVID-19 removed from their mother’s death certificate.
WIS reported that 68-year-old Brenda Grist died on Oct. 5 after her children Robin Hooke and Ryan Brown say she battled dementia for five years. “She went downhill quickly, even according to her neurologist who was following her care. She just went downhill extremely quickly,” said Hooke. “Her kidneys were shutting down due to the terminal dementia.”
Hooke says her mother received a negative COVID-19 test at Carolina Gardens in West Columbia on Sept. 9, but she was admitted to Lexington Medical Center on Sept. 10 for kidney failure, where she tested positive for the virus. “COVID-19, we were told by two physicians at Lexington Medical Center, did not affect her at all,” explained Hooke who says her mom was completely asymptomatic. “It was her kidneys shutting down. It was her brain shutting her body down, which is what happens in terminal dementia.”
Ten days after receiving a positive COVID-19 test, Hooke says her mother tested negative for the virus and received two additional negative COVID-19 tests after being moved to PruittHealth-Ridgeway. Nearly two weeks later, she says her mom had a seizure and died in the ambulance on the way to Providence Health Northeast. “I immediately told them my mother was an organ donor, and they said that because of COVID, our mother would not be able to donate her organs,” said Hooke. “We were both in shock. I said she doesn’t have COVID. Other than the dementia, she was healthy as a horse,” she explained. “Her heart could have saved someone; her lungs could have saved someone.”