A Texas couple insists their 5-year-old daughter was perfectly healthy before she suddenly died after a short battle with COVID-19 in late October.
Amarillo resident Lastassija White told KAMR her daughter Tagan started to act differently on Oct. 27.
“She was just sleeping, sleeping, sleeping,” she recalled. “That went on until Tuesday and Wednesday. She was still eating and drinking, and then Wednesday night she started throwing up. So that Thursday, that’s when I decided to take her to the ER.”
The kindergartner tested positive for the coronavirus two days later, even though she hadn’t exhibited common symptoms like a fever or cough. Despite the results, the doctor did not appear to be concerned about Tagan‘s prognosis.
“And (the doctor) came in, they discharged us and just told me that she would be fine. It doesn’t affect kids, (and advised) not to have her around anybody older,” White said.
Tagan’s condition did not approve and when her mother checked on her at 3 a.m., the little girl was “was unresponsive, but she was still breathing.”
Tagan died after her parents called an ambulance to transport her to the hospital. Her death occurred less than a day after the family received her COVID-19 results.
“This doctor told us that our child would be fine, and our child didn’t even make it 24 hours. She died within the next 15 hours,” Quincy Drone, Tagan’s father, told KAMR.
“My daughter was perfectly healthy,” White said. “Perfectly healthy. There’s no way that should have happened.”
Drone believes his daughter could have been saved had she remained at the hospital after her diagnosis.
“We feel as parents that our daughter could have been saved. I mean, we feel that we’re not just saying that because it’s our daughter,” he said. “We just honestly feel like even if … they probably shouldn’t have sent her home. I mean it was just mistakes made … too many mistakes made that cost a 5-year-old her life.”
