BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — A local mother, just 30 years old leaves behind her husband and her four children after what family and friends say were complications with COVID-19.
Tuesday night, Shannon Honebrink, a family friend, says that her newborn continues to fight.
“They were just trying to do whatever they possibly could to help her come back from all this, and ultimately, she wasn't able to do so. Even with as strong as a person as she is,” said Honebrink.
Shannon Honebrink says her friend Larissa Hickey posted on Facebook towards the end of January that she tested positive for COVID-19 while pregnant. Honebrink says Hickey said she was feeling fine after, but suddenly her health took a turn for the worst.
“Unfortunately, after the course of about 48-72 hours, she just started to decline and they made the decision to incubate her and do the emergency c-section.”
That’s when Honebrink says Hickey passed away shortly after.
“It was about 24 to 36 hours after that from when they did the emergency c-section that she passed away.”
Hickey’s husband wrote on a 23ABC Facebook post saying "Please take COVID seriously. My wife was only 30 years old with non-underlying problems." Honebrink says that her friend was in school to be an RN and an online fitness coach on the side.
“She just did it all she had so much energy.”
Honebrink met hickey back in 2017 through a Facebook group designed for mothers, she says that they always stick with each other through life's ups and downs, however, this is the first mother in their group that has passed away and now moms nationwide are stepping up to help.
“Our small and mighty group we kind of put our heads together and said what can we do. We did start a fund and collectively we were able to raise about $7,000 in less than 24 hours, among just our mom's group.”
She says that Hickey was a stay-at-home mother and while two of the children are Sean's stepkids, she is empathizing with him as he takes on this new role.
“To think about doing that on your own it's heartbreaking. I sympathize with him because it's one of those unmatchable losses that you suffer and anything we can do community wise to make it a slight bit easier.”
As for Damon, the baby who was born early, Honebrink says he’s doing good, during a tough time for the family.
“When he was born, he was just about 2 lbs. Which is just crazy but he's just continued to be a little strong fighter.”
