A Louisiana family is mourning the loss of their 17-year-old son who died from COVID–19 complications on Friday.
The family claims their son could not get to the hospital in late August because of damage caused by Hurricane Ida.
Christopher Matherne’s family could not evacuate from their home due to his severe health conditions when Ida struck on Aug. 29, causing the 911 lines to go down.
“His health deteriorated within a couple of days,” the boy’s mother, Matherne’s mother, Kristi, told the media. “We were scared we were going to lose him on the sofa.”
Kristi explained that caring for her sick son in the family’s badly damaged home caused things to go from bad to worst very quickly.
“It’s been a snowball effect of bad things,” she said. “I never thought it would get to that level.”
Eventually, Christopher made it to Thibodaux Regional Medical Center. He was then transferred to Children’s Hospital New Orleans, where he spent 24 days in a medically induced coma to give his lungs a chance to heal.
Unfortunately, other complications arose, and he succumbed to the illness.
