9-month old twin dies of COVID, Missouri family says. ‘A piece will always be missing’
Twins Amelia and Claire Peyton won’t have the opportunity to grow up together after one sister died of COVID-19 complications.
Both 9-month-old girls had tested positive for coronavirus, their family said, and only Claire recovered.
Amelia, of Iberia, died Tuesday, Feb. 1, at University Hospital in Columbia, Missouri, KOMU reported.
“She will never be forgotten,” father Brian Petyon shared to Facebook. “She was the best happiest baby she was our world now a piece will always be missing.”
Amelia’s death comes after she tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted to Lake Regional Hospital in Osage Beach on Jan. 16, KOMU reported. Doctors placed Amelia on a ventilator before transferring her to University Hospital.
The baby girl faced many trials during those weeks of hospitalization, as her dad shared public updates with family and friends.
“I know Amelia has everyone in the country praying for her but she needs some more right now,” he said on Jan. 25 as his daughter was fighting an infection. “They are getting ready to put a chest tube in to try and drain this fluid off her chest.”
Treatment was working, he said a few days later, and Amelia appeared to be getting better.
Unfortunately, the good news was shadowed by new complications within a couple days.
“It tears me apart when the doctor today tells us ‘She could not have gotten any sicker’ in other words death.. when explaining what all her body has been going through back and forth,” mother Hayley Lynn Caples shared to Facebook on Jan. 31.
Later that day, she said a surgeon confirmed there was an air pocket in the middle of Amelia’s chest with fluid inside.
“Amelia is in the operating room now the air pocket was pushing on heart causing issues,” Peyton said the next day, adding that blood was in his baby’s stomach. “They’d already planned on getting the air out today but it became an (emergency) we are just waiting pray this surgery is our answers.”
While in surgery, he said Amelia “coded several times.”
“My baby needs a MIRACLE!” Caples said as her daughter was in surgery. “One minute they had just came in and said everything was going good she was (stable) in surgery and then the very next minute alarms are going off and she coded BLUE.”
Amelia died that evening, her family said in a GoFundMe.
While sharing funeral arrangements, Caples asked family to wear a mask and use disinfectant wipes.
“I understand not everyone is vaccinated,” she said. “We decided to all get vaccinated for the sake of Claire and because what happened with Amelia changed our lives forever.”
“Tomorrow will be the second worst day of our lives and possible sickness and germs are something I can’t play with anymore,” she continued. “I feel as if I need to hang on to Claire for dear life. I’m sure everyone understands.”
As of Feb. 9, three children ages 0-4 were confirmed to have died of COVID-19 in Missouri, according to state records. There have been 32,835 confirmed cases within that same age group as of Feb. 9.
Vaccines that protect against COVID-19 are only authorized for children 5 years and older.
“Getting a COVID-19 vaccine can help protect children ages 5 years and older from getting COVID-19,” the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says. “Vaccinating children can help protect family members, including siblings who are not eligible for vaccination and family members who may be at increased risk of getting very sick if they are infected.”
“Vaccination can also help keep children from getting seriously sick even if they do get COVID-19.”
This story was originally published February 9, 2022 at 9:51 AM with the headline "9-month old twin dies of COVID, Missouri family says. ‘A piece will always be missing’."