A nurse, Sylvia LeRoy was six months pregnant caring for patients at Brookdale Hospital in New York City when she contracted COVID-19.
Now, the same nurse who spent seven years caring for patients is in the fight of her life.
Her sister, Shirley Licin, said how her sister LeRoy’s symptoms got worse.
LeRoy, 35, first felt symptoms in mid-March. She was working at Brookdale Hospital in the labor and delivery unit, and had to wait a week to get tested.
Licin said, “The hospital would not test nurses and doctors even if they were sick.”
Leroy needed a ventilator at that point, and her family said they moved her from Brookdale to Mount Sinai because conditions at Brookdale were bad.
"No one came to clean her. She was given a mop to clean her own room, her husband had to come and give her Tylenol.”
Once at Mount Sinai, Licin said she thought her sister was getting better, but at one point, LeRoy went into cardiac arrest and her baby had to be delivered via C-section.
During the emergency delivery of baby Esther, LeRoy lost oxygen and doctors had to do CPR.
Licin set up a GoFundMe page to help with expenses, but said the medical care her sister will need will be a lifetime, and so far, some of her medical insurance and worker’s compensation are not picking up the tab.
LeRoy is now being treated for brain damage at Moss Rehab in PA.
This article was written by Nicole Johnson for WPIX.