Woman who gave birth to ‘miracle baby’ while on ventilator dies, family says

CHARLOTTE — A Charlotte woman who gave birth to her child while on a ventilator and in a medically induced coma after contracting COVID-19 has died, Channel 9 has learned.

Vicky Goodson, a CMS employee who had been fighting for her life in a Charlotte hospital, died Tuesday morning, according to her family.

Family members told anchor Genevieve Curtis that Goodson “fought and fought for her daughter, who she never got to meet.”

Goodson was on extracorporeal life support before she died.

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Genevieve spoke with Goodson’s sister, Tarisha Leach, last week. She said Vicky, 40, texted her on Sept. 3 to say she could not breathe.

“That was the last text I got from her,” Leach said. “That she couldn’t breathe.”

Goodson, a Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools cafeteria manager at Starmount Elementary School, posted on social media on Sept. 7 when she was admitted to the hospital to ask for prayers for her and the unborn baby.

Family, friends coping with loss of CMS employee who died of COVID-19 after giving birth

Janette Kinard said that before she worked with her friend, Goodson, in the kitchen at Metro School they made a pact.

“She was an employee of mine for many years,” Kinard said. “We always had a pact that anybody who had a baby working in the kitchen would be a ‘kitchen baby.’”

Doctors delivered Reign Monet on Sept. 11 during an emergency C-section while Goodson was unconscious.

Kinard is Baby Reign’s godmother.

She would visit Goodson in the hospital and promised her things would be taken care of.

“I will take care of child,” Kinard said. “You go ahead and rest, and I’ll take care of your baby.”

Kinard’s nonprofit Champion House of Care Project One is financially adopting Baby Reign.

She is also asking the community for help.

“I know it takes a village to raise a child,” Kinard said.

The nonprofit set up through an Amazon registry where people can buy items for Baby Reign.

“We want to make sure she has a good life that Vicky would give her,” Kinard said.

The baby did not have COVID-19 and spent two weeks in the NICU.

“The baby is a miracle baby,” Leach said. “A miracle baby. She’s beautiful.”

The child is being cared for by relatives at home.

Goodson’s family said she was cautious throughout the pandemic, especially when pregnant. She was working at the school and was waiting to get vaccinated until after she gave birth.

Family members hope Goodson’s story will encourage other expecting mothers to get vaccinated.

>> GoFundMe link for Vicky

(Watch the video below: Nurse gives mother COVID-19 vaccine, shares words of encouragement)

Nurse gives mother COVID-19 vaccine, shares words of encouragement

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