Skip to content
NOWCAST KSBW Action News 8 Sunrise at 6 am
Watch on Demand
Advertisement

'She was put on this earth for a reason': Family remembers college student who died suddenly

'She was put on this earth for a reason': Family remembers college student who died suddenly
UNIVERSITY. NOW HER PARENTS ARE TRYING TO GRAPPLE WITH LOSING THE LIGHT OF THEIR LIVES, ONLY DAYS AGO. >> WE WOULD TELL HER THAT ESH COULD DO ANYTHING THAT SHE SET HER MIND TO AND SHE REALLY BELIEVED THAT. STEV:EN A TRAGIC LOSS WITHO N ANSWERS. SIMONE SCOTT, A HEALTHY 19-YEAR-OLD IN HER SECOND SEMESTER AT NORTHWESTERN, JUST RECENTLY MADE A SURPRISE VISIT HOME FOR MOTHERS DAY, A PLAN PUT IN MOTION BY HER FATHER AND STEP FATHER. >> SHE IS A COLLEGE STUDENT AND GOES, DAD, I DON’T QUITE HAVE ENOUGH MONEY. THAT’S ALL RIGHT. I PITCH IN GLADLY FOR THAT. STEV:EN A SURPRISE PERFECTLY EXECUTED. LATER, MOM'’ INTUITION KNEW SOMETHING WAS OFF. >> I DID NOTICE DURING TTHA VISIT THAT SHE WAS KIND OF STUFFY SO HER VOICE WASN'’ EXACTLY THE SAME. ASHLEY: -- STEV:EN THE 2020 MASON GRADTEUA AND SENIOR CLASS VICE PRESIDENT, GOT BACK TO CAMPUS ON TUESYDA , MAY 11, BUT ONLY GOT WORSE EVEN AFTER A VISIT TO THE DOCTOR. HER MOM SAYS MULTIPLE TES ATSLL CAME BKAC NEGATIVE, INCLUDING COVID, AND SHE’D JUST RECIEVED HER SECOND SHOT ON MAY 1. >> AND ON SUNDAY MORNING SHE TEXTED HER FATHER AND SAID, DAD, I FEEL SO DIZZY, I CANNOT GET OUT OF BED. AND THAT’S WHEN EVERYTHING REALLY STARTED FROM TEHRE. STEVEN: HER PARENTS, HUNDREDS OF MILES AWAY, CALLED FOR HELP, AS SHE WAS DECLINING FAST. >> WE LEARNED THAT A DOCTOR DHA TO JUMPER ON HER CHEST AND GIVE HER CPR BECAUSE SHE WAS ATTH BAD. AND THEN THE WHOLE CASCADOFE EVENTS HAPPENED. THEY HAD TO INTUBATE HERND A REALIZED THAT HER HEART, SHE WAS IN HEART FAILURE. STEVEN: AFTER MULTIPLE INTERVENTIONS AND A NEW HRTEA, SIMONE SCOTT PASSED AWAY ON JUNE 11, JUST OVER A MONTH AFTER MOTHER’S DAY. >> I STILL FEEL LIKE SHISE PURE EVEN THOUGH I KNOW SHE IS NOT. IT JUST FEELS LIKE SUCH A WASTE. STEV:EN ACHIEVING GOAL AFTER GOAL AND EYES SET FOR HARVARD, GONE AT9. 1 >> SHE WAS JUST UNSTOPPABLE. SHE HAD ACHVEIE AND IT’S HARD TO BELIEVE SHE IS GE.ON PLACE, I WOULD IN A HEARTBEAT. BECAUSE SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO CHANGE THE WORLD, AND SHE KNEW .IT STEV:EN TALKING TO HER PARTSEN TONIGHT, THEY WANT TO THANK THE COMMUNITY FOR REACHING OUT. THEY CANNOT THANK YOU ENOUGH FOR EVERYTHING, COMING OUTO T SUPPORT THEIR FAMILY. THEY ARE STILL WAITINGN O TTES TO COME -- ON TTSES TO COME BACK ON SIMONE'’ HEART SO THEY CAN LEAR
Advertisement
'She was put on this earth for a reason': Family remembers college student who died suddenly
Valerie Kraimer is grieving a tragic loss, but so far, has no answers. Her daughter, 19-year-old Simone Scott, was healthy and in her second semester at Northwestern University. "We would tell her that she could do anything that she set her mind to and she really believed that," Valerie Kraimer said. Scott just recently made a surprise visit home to Ohio for Mother's Day. It was a plan put in motion by her father and stepfather."And so, we had to work on flights and then getting the Uber from campus to O'Hare. And she's a college student! She said, 'Dad I don’t have quite enough money.' I said 'that's alright,' so I gladly pitched in for that," Kevin Scott said.It was a surprise that was perfectly executed. Her mom was surprised, but as moms do, she knew that her daughter wasn't quite right."During that visit, during that Mother’s Day visit, I did notice that she was kind of stuffy so her voice wasn't exactly the same," Kraimer said.Scott got back to campus on May 11, but only got worse even after a visit to the doctor. Her mom says multiple tests all came back negative including a COVID-19 test. She'd just received her second vaccine shot on May 1."On Sunday morning, she texted her father and said, 'Dad, I feel so dizzy. I cannot get out of bed' and that's when everything really started from there," Kraimer said.Simone's parents were hundreds of miles away. Her mother was in Mason, Ohio, and her father was still in Washington, D.C. Her father called Northwestern campus police to arrange for someone to check in on her, but her health was declining fast. "We learned that a doctor had to jump on her chest and give her CPR because she was that bad, and then the whole cascade of events happened. They had to intubate her and realized that she was in heart failure," Kraimer said. After multiple interventions including hooking Simone to an ECMO machine that mirrors the function of the heart so her own heart could rest, and eventually a heart replacement; Simone Scott died on June 11. It was just over a month after when she’d flown home for Mothers Day."I still feel like she's here, but even though even though I know that she's not and it just feels like such a waste," Kraimer said. Simone Scott had achieved so many goals. Goals she'd set during fifth grade. "She went to Northwestern and she wanted to go to Harvard for her Juris Doctorate. She was just unstoppable. She had achieved. She was well on her way and it's just hard to believe she's gone," stepdad Bill Kraimer said. "We're still four or five days away from saying goodbye to her, so I will say, generally speaking, there’s a flood of memories that come to mind that, again, bring a smile and brings a comfort and brings a knowing confidence that, yeah, she was put on this earth for a reason and she hit it out of the park," her father, Kevin Scott, said. "You know if I could take her place I would in a heartbeat. I would because she was supposed to change the world and she knew it. She knew it," Kraimer said. Right now, Simone’s parents are still waiting on multiple tests on her heart to come back so they can hopefully learn why they lost their daughter so suddenly. Funeral arrangements are pending, but a GoFundMe has been started in Simone’s name. Click here to donate.

Valerie Kraimer is grieving a tragic loss, but so far, has no answers.

Advertisement

Her daughter, 19-year-old Simone Scott, was healthy and in her second semester at Northwestern University.

"We would tell her that she could do anything that she set her mind to and she really believed that," Valerie Kraimer said.

Scott just recently made a surprise visit home to Ohio for Mother's Day. It was a plan put in motion by her father and stepfather.

"And so, we had to work on flights and then getting the Uber from campus to O'Hare. And she's a college student! She said, 'Dad I don’t have quite enough money.' I said 'that's alright,' so I gladly pitched in for that," Kevin Scott said.

It was a surprise that was perfectly executed. Her mom was surprised, but as moms do, she knew that her daughter wasn't quite right.

"During that visit, during that Mother’s Day visit, I did notice that she was kind of stuffy so her voice wasn't exactly the same," Kraimer said.

Scott got back to campus on May 11, but only got worse even after a visit to the doctor. Her mom says multiple tests all came back negative including a COVID-19 test. She'd just received her second vaccine shot on May 1.

"On Sunday morning, she texted her father and said, 'Dad, I feel so dizzy. I cannot get out of bed' and that's when everything really started from there," Kraimer said.

Simone's parents were hundreds of miles away. Her mother was in Mason, Ohio, and her father was still in Washington, D.C. Her father called Northwestern campus police to arrange for someone to check in on her, but her health was declining fast.

"We learned that a doctor had to jump on her chest and give her CPR because she was that bad, and then the whole cascade of events happened. They had to intubate her and realized that she was in heart failure," Kraimer said.

After multiple interventions including hooking Simone to an ECMO machine that mirrors the function of the heart so her own heart could rest, and eventually a heart replacement; Simone Scott died on June 11. It was just over a month after when she’d flown home for Mothers Day.

"I still feel like she's here, but even though even though I know that she's not and it just feels like such a waste," Kraimer said.

Simone Scott had achieved so many goals. Goals she'd set during fifth grade.

"She went to Northwestern and she wanted to go to Harvard for her Juris Doctorate. She was just unstoppable. She had achieved. She was well on her way and it's just hard to believe she's gone," stepdad Bill Kraimer said.

"We're still four or five days away from saying goodbye to her, so I will say, generally speaking, there’s a flood of memories that come to mind that, again, bring a smile and brings a comfort and brings a knowing confidence that, yeah, she was put on this earth for a reason and she hit it out of the park," her father, Kevin Scott, said.

"You know if I could take her place I would in a heartbeat. I would because she was supposed to change the world and she knew it. She knew it," Kraimer said.

Right now, Simone’s parents are still waiting on multiple tests on her heart to come back so they can hopefully learn why they lost their daughter so suddenly.

Funeral arrangements are pending, but a GoFundMe has been started in Simone’s name. Click here to donate.