17-year-old football player dies days after getting COVID

By Adam Murphy

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    DOUGLAS COUNTY, Georgia (WGCL) — As the Delta variant of COVID-19 spreads in Georgia, it’s not just adults getting sick from the virus.

Tosha Nettles never imagined her life would take such a terrible turn in a matter of days.

“My friends and family are hurting because they just cannot believe this,” Nettles said.

Nettles said her 17-year-old son Tyler was diagnosed with COVID on July 23, 9-days later he passed away.

“My mother is hurting, his father is hurting, his sisters are hurting,” Nettles said.

Nettles said her son did not receive the medical attention he needed just days before his death. After testing positive for COVID, she said she took her son to Wellstar Douglas Hospital twice for treatment. The first time she said he was diagnosed with pneumonia and sent home, the second time he was discharged and told to hydrate.

“One of the male nurses told the other male nurse we can’t hurt ourselves trying to help him get in this car. We’ve got to go. And they let go of him and he fell flat on his face inside the back seat of my car,” Nettles said. “I was like can you all observe him for a while? Because I said this is not him. He’s not talking, he’s not responding, and they were like he’s just in pain because of COVID.”

So, she rushed him to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta where he was immediately intubated.

“They were screaming at us saying how long have you had him like this? How long have you had him like this? He is seizing, he is seizing. And I said we just left another hospital where they discharged him,” Nettles said.

Sadly, the otherwise healthy teenager and high school football stand-out had his life cut short.

“People have been attacking me saying he should have gotten vaccinated, but what about the level of care that he did not get,” Nettles said.

There will be a celebration of life for Tyler this Saturday at 1 PM at Douglas County High School.

CBS46 reached out to Wellstar Health System about what happened and they released the following statement.

“We are saddened by the passing of Tyler Fairley. Our thoughts are with his family including the Douglas County High School football team and the Douglas County community during this difficult time. As COVID-19 and variants are continuing to spread throughout our communities, we remain committed to providing high-quality, personalized medical care to every person, regardless of vaccination status. Out of respect for patients and their families, and to comply with federal and state patient privacy laws, we are prohibited from sharing specific details about individual patients.”

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