Parents Got the Virus, Thought Son Would Be OK. He Wasn't

Cody Lyster, 21, dies of COVID-19
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 15, 2020 12:06 AM CDT
Coronavirus Claims Life of College Baseball Player, 21
This Monday, March 23, 2020, file photo shows medical supplies and a stretcher displayed before a news conference at the Jacob Javits Center in New York.   (AP Photo/John Minchillo, Fle)

Cody Lyster, 21, was home from Colorado Mesa University for spring break when his dad, a police officer on a medical campus, got infected with the coronavirus in mid-March. Kevin Lyster kept his distance from the rest of his family, but the Denver Channel reports his wife believes she contracted the virus too, and soon Cody developed a fever. "We were certainly under the impression that younger people were not being affected as badly as some of the other age groups," Lea Ann Lyster says. But by March 30, her son had a severe cough, a temperature of 104 degrees, and was acting confused. By April 8, the college baseball player was dead, becoming Colorado's youngest COVID-19 victim, People reports. "It’s every parent’s worst nightmare," Kevin Lyster says.

The family and doctors alike were initially sure Cody, a young athlete with no other apparent health issues, would recover fully. But after his family called the fire department on March 30, they never saw their son alive again. He was admitted to the ICU of a nearby hospital and put on a ventilator, and was unconscious when a nurse FaceTimed his family so they could talk to him as visitors were not allowed. Late the next night, he was gone. His kidneys and heart had failed. "Our son is proof positive that it can take the life of a young person," his mom says. "I do think that there are a lot of younger people out there thinking, ‘I’m invincible, this can’t affect me.’ Unfortunately, our family can tell you that that’s not the case." A GoFundMe campaign has been set up for the family. (More coronavirus stories.)

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