Mother Dies From COVID-19 Weeks After Giving Birth to Healthy Baby Boy She Never Got to Hold

A woman died from COVID-19 just weeks after giving birth.

CNN reports that Erika Becerra was eight months pregnant when she tested positive for the virus. Because she was sick, she was induced and gave birth to a healthy baby boy in Detroit on Nov. 15.

Becerra was intubated following the delivery because she couldn’t breathe well. Three weeks later, on Dec. 3, she passed away—and because she was intubated and diagnosed with COVID, she never got to hold her son, Diego.

Besides being pregnant, the 33-year-old didn’t have any underlying health conditions. Her brother Michael Avilez told CNN that she wasn’t concerned about being pregnant during the pandemic. She rarely went out and was careful when she did, always wearing a mask and wiping down surfaces.

“She followed every rule in the book and she still ended up catching it and it's sad,” Avilez said. “You got a lot of people who don't understand what's going on...they all think it's a joke until it happens to them or one of their family members.”

Becerra lived in Detroit with her husband and 1-year-old daughter; her family traveled from Los Angeles to be with her. Avilez said the husband, daughter, and newborn all tested negative for COVID. Avilez told CNN affiliate KCAL, “Towards the last moments, she was tearing up. I know she heard us as we prayed for her, we talked to her, we comforted her in the last moments.”

Her family has set up a GoFundMe to help with funeral expenses and "the day to day needs of her young children"; it currently stands at $64,000. “[Erika] was the most wonderful person you could ever meet,” Avilez said. “For her, other people's happiness was her happiness.”