HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. — Huntersville nurse Sandy Sarantis died from COVID-19 after being on the front lines helping those who contracted the virus. She was 62.
“She was a good sister,” said Bill Sarantis, Sandy Sarantis’ brother.
Sandy Sarantis was a nurse for 35 years and was working at Novant Health Huntersville when the pandemic hit.
She took every precaution but early last month, it all changed.
“She worked on the Wednesday and Friday before and that Saturday, she started feeling like she wasn’t feeling well and by Sunday, she had a 102-, 103-degree fever,” Bill Sarantis said.
His sister was hospitalized within a week and days later, she was placed in intensive care.
“She ended up with another infection and a secondary infection, and they said that her lungs were just too badly damaged,” her brother told Channel 9.
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Sandy Sarantis died Friday, about a month after getting sick.
Bill Sarantis doesn’t know if his sister got COVID-19 while working. He said he tried to talk her into retiring, but she had no regrets.
“She said that, ‘No, this is what I signed up for. This is part of who I am,‘” Bill Sarantis said.
Novant Health sent Channel 9 a statement:
“Sandy was a registered nurse who served Novant Health and our community for 12 years. This loss touches all of us at Novant Health and, as we grieve, we will continue to come together and support one another.”
The hospital is planning a memorial service for Sandy Sarantis at 7 p.m. on Wednesday.
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