Mother of 8 dies of COVID after ventilation. ‘They keep asking for mom,’ Ohio dad says
Eight children are left without their mom after she died of COVID following 10 days in the hospital.
Amber Feltner — a wife, best friend and the “world’s best mom” — died late Tuesday, her husband, Travis Feltner, said on Facebook.
“Amber would want me to be strong for the kids,” Travis said, according to WLWT. “It’s just hard cause they keep asking for — they keep asking for mom.”
Their children span from 3 years to 20 years old, the Cincinnati-based TV station reported.
One of their kids, Mackenzie, set up a Meal Train for family and friends to take turns bringing meals to the Ohio family shortly after their mom was hospitalized.
In the description, Mackenzie wrote her mom was “rushed to the hospital for low oxygen levels” on Sept. 12, where they then learned she was infected with the coronavirus. She was then placed on a ventilator.
“We have a large family with 8 kids and the littles are confused and can’t figure out where mommy is,” she said at the time.
Amber, 37, did not receive the COVID vaccine, WLWT reported, but now Travis is advocating for others to get the shot and wear masks.
“I would never want anybody to go through what I’m going through. It’s just a complete nightmare,” he said, according to the news station. “I know Amber would want people to not fall in the footsteps of what happened to her.”
Her death comes after her family was praying “for a miracle,” Travis shared in a Facebook fundraiser.
“I went up and spent time with her begging her to get better,” he wrote. “I told her I would sell every game system I have if she just would come home.”
She died about four hours after that post.
This Cincinnati family has been through a lot. This time last year, WLWT reported Travis was hit by a car fleeing police during a chase.
“He has suffered a traumatic brain injury and now his wife has died…. His caregiver!!! His high school sweetheart,” his cousin, Valerie Bridges Peace, shared on Facebook. “I ask you to lift this family up in prayer!”
Travis wrote he is on long-term disability and worries how his family will move forward.
His wife is one of 21,580 people who have died from COVID in the state as of Thursday, according to the Ohio Department of Health. More than 71,000 people have been hospitalized with the virus.
About 53% of the state has received at least one dose of a COVID vaccine.
“COVID-19 vaccines are effective at protecting you from COVID-19, especially severe illness and death,” the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention say. “COVID-19 vaccines reduce the risk of people spreading the virus that causes COVID-19.”
This story was originally published September 23, 2021 at 12:25 PM with the headline "Mother of 8 dies of COVID after ventilation. ‘They keep asking for mom,’ Ohio dad says."