Sylvia LeRoy was a fully-functioning labor and delivery nurse at Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York before she went into cardiac arrest at 28 weeks pregnant. The sudden deterioration of her health triggered by COVID-19, left family members asking for help. In return, an outpouring of love has made the 35-year-old mom’s road to recovery a little easier to manage.
According to a GoFundMe set up for LeRoy and the baby she delivered prematurely, more than 13,000 people have chipped-in to relieve the financial stress now facing the nurse who her family says likely contracted the virus from a patient she was caring for. The fundraiser is more than three-quarters of the way there, with nearly $760,000 toward a one-million-dollar goal.
Organizers say the money is needed to give her a fighting chance at rehabilitation. In an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper this week, her sister Shirley Licin explained that her current medical benefits do not cover what would be needed for LeRoy to get better.
After losing oxygen to her brain for more than four minutes and coding before being stabilized, the wife and mother will require a wheelchair accessible van going forward, as well as an ADA accessible home near her rehab facility. LeRoy’s insurance provider is only willing to pay for 60 days of treatment. Licin says she will need “months and months” of it.
“She deserves a chance. She deserves whatever her best actual can be,” Licin told Cooper.
Regular updates on LeRoy’s GoFundMe page show that the nurse who first entered the hospital on March 27, show that the mom of two is making incremental progress. Her daughter Esther who was born via C-section has also improved. Though still on oxygen, she is “pink and healthy” and has gained weight. Jessica Hines Jacobs, who organized the fundraiser on behalf of Licin, describes her as “thriving.”
Sylvia LeRoy’s family is thankful for the donations and are hopeful that it will make a difference for a nurse who was so dedicated to making a difference in the Brownsville, Brooklyn community.