WESTLAKE, Ohio — At just 18-years old, Sara Golembiewski has her whole life ahead of her. But now, the future seems a bit more intimidating.
“I am a little scared to face the world without the help of my parents,” she said.
But instead of thinking about the future, the Westlake teenager can’t stop thinking about moments and memories with her loved ones that she can’t get back. . . .
Golembiewski and her 15-year old brother are dealing with the unimaginable: the deaths of their mother, father, and aunt.
Shortly after Thanksgiving her aunt, 59-year old Debra Machka, her father, 46-year old Brian Golembiewski, and her mother, 57-year old Gail Golembiewski all got sick with COVID-19.
“I was the only vaccinated one in my family,” she said. “I told them to go to the hospital and they didn’t listen to me. I knew something bad was going to happen.”
On Dec. 7, Golembiewski went to check on her aunt because she wasn’t answering her phone. She found her dead.
“My dad was on the floor literally bawling because he lost his sister,” she said.
Golembiewski said she was reeling from the shock of it all when her mom woke her up later that evening. “She’s like ‘Sara come down here now,’ I’m like ‘Why?’ and she’s like ‘Your father passed away.’”
As Golembiewski, her mother, and brother tried to make sense of it all, her mom’s condition worsened.
On Dec.10, just three days after the death of her father and aunt, her mom passed away.
“My brother is screaming and freaking out he’s like ‘What are we going to do? Who are we going to go with? I’m like ‘I don’t know.’”
In the days since her brother is with family in Streetsboro.
Jennifer Bohannon, Golembiewski’s boyfriend’s mom, took her in so she can finish her senior year at Westlake High School.
The parents had underlying conditions, and their daughter wished they'd gotten the vaccine, she thinks it would've saved them.