Mum and daughter die just two weeks apart after refusing vaccine
A mum, 55, and daughter, 32, have died from Covid just weeks apart after they declined to get vaccinated.
Heather Maddern died from the virus on August 31 at an Ulster Hospital in Northern Ireland.
On Saturday (local time), her daughter, Sammie-Jo Forde — a married mum of four — also succumbed to her infection.
They were being treated just two beds away from each other in the same ward.
Ms Forde’s dad told BBC’s Nolan Show the pair’s deaths have left him “devastated”.
“This has just shattered my world,” Kevin McAllister, who had separated from Ms Maddern, said.
“I’ve lost my daughter, my best friend.”
Mr McAllister told the podcast his ex-partner and daughter had cared for elderly patients in their own homes as care givers and didn’t understand why they didn’t get the Covid vaccine.
“They helped other people and they couldn't even help themselves,” he said, urging people to get the jab so their families don’t have to “pick up the pieces”.
“These people who are not taking the Covid-19 injection — they're not thinking of the other people that they leave behind.”
Mum deems vaccine requirement 'disgusting'
In the months prior to her death, Ms Maddern shared an anti-vax post about nurses protesting a hospital’s decision to fire healthcare workers who do not want to get vaccinated.
The 55-year-old called the move “disgusting”.
Both mum and daughter have banners on their Facebook profile photos reading: “I can’t stay home, I’m a healthcare worker”.
Distraught father of 32yo daughter describes how she and his ex-partner died from Covid just days apart. Neither of them had been vaccinated.
Podcast 📲 @BBCSounds pic.twitter.com/YZ5K8TSYAR— Stephen Nolan (@StephenNolan) September 15, 2021
Mr McAllister said the pair had been very close and that Ms Forde had texted her dad to let him know “Mummy’s passed away”.
He said his daughter didn’t have any underlying conditions but ultimately died from heart failure because “she just couldn’t cope”.
“I never, never thought in my life I would bury my daughter,” Mr McAllister told BBC’s Stephen Nolan.
Ms Maddern’s funeral was held earlier this week and Ms Forde, whose eldest child is just 13, will be buried next week.
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