Detroit, MI — Laneeka Barksdale, a 42-year old mother from Michigan with four children, has reportedly died from the coronavirus after being sick for two weeks and fighting for her life in the hospital.
Barksdale, who is lovingly known as Nikki to her family, was taken to the hospital when she had symptoms of COVID-19. With her underlying asthma, Barksdale experienced more severe conditions.
“They induced a coma maybe her second day in the hospital to see if they could give her lungs a bit of a break from overworking,” her brother Omari Barksdale told Fox News Detroit. “They brought her out of the coma, when she came out, she still wasn’t able to process enough oxygen.”
The doctors still tried to keep her oxygen level by heavily sedating her, but her temperature remained at 102 degrees. She sadly died on March 23 due to the complications of the coronavirus.
Michigan is one of the states with the highest number of cases in the US. Currently, the number of confirmed cases are more than 9,300, at least 337 people have died, and the numbers are still increasing.
Omari remembered his sister as his “protector” and he was brokenhearted that he couldn’t do enough to protect his sister now. He is appealing to all people to adhere to the authorities’ guidelines to help prevent the further spread of the coronavirus.
“This is the most serious thing we’ve faced as a world in anybody’s lifetime that’s alive right now,” he said. “The implications of it are too vast to take lightly.”