Jorja,15,dies of Covid on day she was due her jab
A 15-YEAR-OLD schoolgirl died from Covid-19 on the day she was due to have her vaccine.
Jorja Halliday died at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth on Tuesday after testing positive for the virus three days earlier.
She had been due to have her jab that day but had to cancel as she was isolating at home.
Her mother, Tracey Halliday, 40, described Jorja as a ‘loving girl’, a talented kickboxer and an aspiring musician.
She confirmed her daughter did not have any known underlying health conditions and said she feared children are too ‘blasé’ about the virus.
‘Jorja was a loving girl and she had lots of friends,’ Ms Halliday said. ‘She was very active, she liked to go out and spend time with her friends and loved spending time with her brothers and sisters.
‘Growing up, she turned into a beautiful young lady, always wanting to help others, always there for everybody.
‘It’s heart-wrenching because your kids are meant to outlive you, and that’s the one thing I can’t get over. I’m at the point where I can’t comprehend that it’s happened.’
Ms Halliday said that Jorja first developed flu-like symptoms before she took a PCR test last Saturday, which gave a positive result, forcing her to isolate at home and to cancel her vaccine appointment on Tuesday.
But by Monday her throat was so sore she could not eat and she was prescribed antibiotics. When her condition worsened she was seen by a doctor who said her heart rate was twice what it should be and she was admitted to hospital.
Ms Halliday said: ‘They realised how serious it was and I was still allowed to touch her, hold her hand, hug her and everything else. They did allow me that.
‘I was with her the whole time. They tried to put her on a ventilator to give her body a chance to recover. Her heart rate didn’t stabilise. Her heart couldn’t take the strain. They worked as well as I
think they could medically but were unable to save her.’
Ms Halliday said preliminary results from the hospital’s medical examiner indicated she had Covid myocarditis – inflammation of the heart caused by the coronavirus.
Jorja, who was the eldest of five children and a GCSE student at
The Portsmouth Academy, was described by her martial arts teacher, Badr Bahaj, as a ‘role model to so many’. He added: ‘She wanted to teach it when she was older. She also had a passion for learning and martial arts was no exception. It’s devastating, it’s going to break so many hearts.’