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She was very proficient with one hand, Ryan said.
Over time the nerves kept growing, as did her pain. The next step was amputation of her hand and Cooper was looking forward to retirement in a few years. None of that will come to pass. She died Friday, March 5, at Banner Baywood Medical Center. She was 49.
Cooper was admitted to the hospital on February 27 after her lungs stopped. The night before, she had been ordered to work a 15-hour shift in the understaffed dispatch center despite reporting trouble breathing. She was still recovering from COVID-19, which her family believes she caught at work. Her asthma exacerbated the issues, but she was out of leave time. Yesterday, an attorney representing her husband and her estate filed a claim against the City of Phoenix alleging negligence and seeking a total of $35 million in damages.
The previous night, Ryan s daughter Pamela Cooper, 49, had worked a shift of more than 15 hours at Phoenix s 911 dispatch center. Cooper was a 20-year veteran of the dispatch center, but it was her first week back after six weeks recovering from COVID-19. She was still feeling unwell but was out of paid leave and supporting both her mother, a widow on social security, and her husband, whose unemployment has run out.
“She said, I got to work to pay the bills, Ryan remembers.
Courtesy of Shirley Ryan
The first few days were difficult, but on Friday, February 26, Cooper really started to go downhill.