Tessa Marie Clagg

The morning of February 3, 2020, I woke up to a message from my daughter asking me to bring her medicine and an inhaler. That was a Monday. Wednesday she went to the hospital, they put in an IV. She freaked out saying she couldn’t breath and they were trying to kill her and she left against medical advice. However, they was able to confirm she had influenza b. (Sepsis and Influenza)

I arrived at her home right after she did. She was very pale and grey. She begged me not to leave. Of course I didn’t. We tried multiple times to convince her to go back to the hospital. She wouldn’t do it she was terrified that they would kill her. Thursday afternoon we made her go to a medical center. She walked herself in to the ER and screamed at the doctor all the way to ICU where she had been admitted. She wanted a ventilator to help her breath. The doctor said absolutely not she was too young and until they figured out her blood pressure dropping she wasn’t getting nothing.

I had to take my brother to work so I left at approximately 9:32 pm. Before 10:00 pm she had to be put on a ventilator. I had her transferred to another hospital the following day. All the doctors would say was how very ill she was and that she wouldn’t make it long. I told them that they had better not give up and they better fight for her life with everything in them. And I truly believe they did. However it wasn’t enough. Sadly with broken hearts and tears we announced to family and friends that Tessa Marie Clagg had been taking home on Sunday February 09,2020 at 10:42 am.

Tessa was born Easter Sunday April 16,1995 in Lancaster ,Ohio. She was a 2013 Lakewood high School graduate. Her service was held at the Crossroads Baptist Church. The doctor had only said influenza b and late Saturday evening pneumonia also. (Sepsis and Pneumonia) We had no idea that she also had sepsis and acute respiratory distress syndrome until I had to go to the funeral home to collect her remains about a week after she passed. As I was being sat in the car I remember asking my fiance for the envelope with the death certificate in it. I thought for sure their is no way she died from the flu. I don’t believe it. So I had to look. I was right influenza was only a contributing factor. The underlying cause turned out to be sepsis and the cause was the ARDS. (Sepsis and ARDS) Tessa was overall healthy she was hardly ever sick and her asthma was very well controlled. I was very shocked reading her death certificate and to this day their are so many questions. I just remind myself that God has a plan and he is right here with me and so is my baby girl .

Source: August Steinbrook, mother