Penn State Student Dies Of COVID; Got Virus Day Before 1st Shot

KING OF PRUSSIA, PA — Just two years ago, Neil Chetan Patel was graduating from Upper Merion High School as class president, launching a journey at Penn State University that was centered around band and theatrical performance. On Sunday, he died from COVID-19 at the age of 20.

Patel had been on a ventilator at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center in Philadelphia since April 11, according to a GoFundMe page started to support him and his family.

"Our son and my dear boy has moved on to his next journey," his father, Chet, said in a post that was shared to the fundraiser. "Neil fought his illness like a brave knight... just as I had raised him to be. The brightest light in our life has moved on from my and Hema's life and I don't know how we will fill the emptiness."

Patel contracted the virus in March on the day before he was scheduled to receive his first vaccination shot, his father wrote in a social media post. The illness quickly deteriorated Patel's condition, and he suffered various complications, ultimately leading to his right arm being amputated, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. He was placed on heart and lung machines.

Patel had been working two frontline jobs to help pay his way through college. It's believed he contracted the virus at one of those jobs.

His father, Chet, said that he hoped his son's illness would serve as a lesson as to the seriousness of the pandemic and the need for others to get vaccinated.

"Here in the US, we have an opportunity to blunt the effects of this pandemic, but it can only happen by citizen action," he wrote. "In a free society like ours, it’s very difficult to coerce individuals to make choices regarding their own bodies for the public good...I hope you will consider our families tragedy while making your decisions about whether or not to get vaccinated."

Officials at both Upper Merion and Penn State remembered Patel as a driven and unique student.

"The university community shares our deepest condolences with Neil Patel’s friends and family during this difficult time," Penn State said in an official statement Monday.

The GoFundMe reached an enormous community of supporters who followed along with his fight. Nearly $89,000 had been raised by more than 1,300 donors as of Wednesday.

"We know so many of you prayed for and fought alongside of us with him and thank you for this," Neil's mother Nita added. "We hope you will once again light the night so he can find his way to his next home."

A celebration of life will be held on Friday, Aug. 6 at 3 p.m. at the Hope Community Church in King of Prussia. A viewing will follow the service.