An Ohio nurse who fell ill went to get tested for the novel virus because she was seven months pregnant.

Megan Sites initially had mild symptoms of a cold followed by body aches, but her condition rapidly worsened and she had to undergo an emergency C-section last week to save her baby.

Sites has no idea she gave birth to a healthy baby boy.

She remains sedated on a ventilator and is fighting for her life.

When the virus responsible for the pandemic began aggressively spreading, her brother Shaun Jeffries and his wife Kacie were more concerned for the health of their parents and grandparents than for those their own age.

So it came as a shock when Sites became ill.

The 27-year-old had worked as a nurse, was a non-smoker and – for all intents and purposes – was a healthy young woman.

Jeffries described the virus that has taken such a toll on his family:

"24 hours' time, the way it progressed, it was mean. That's the only way to put it: it was a mean virus."

His wife Kacie told WDTN News:

"She doesn't know that she had her baby, and her baby was delivered at 29 weeks."

Jeffries recalled how much his sister was aware of her grave situation as she was taken to the hospital.

"She was crying to my mom, saying she doesn't want to die. That right there tells you she knew enough and what she was going through."

When she arrived at the hospital, things went from bad to worse.

Kacie said:

"Her lungs were just failing. In order to save her and her baby, they had to do an emergency C-section."

Doctors used an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine – which is used to pump and oxygenate a patient outside of the body through an artificial lung – as a last resort to sustain Sites' life.

She has since improved slightly but remains on a ventilator.

Her baby boy was tested twice for the novel virus and showed negative results both times.

The newborn remains in the NICU and Sites' husband Donny was able to hold him three days after birth.

With family unable to visit to show their support due to social distancing, Sites continues fighting for her life alone.

Kacie warned people that the aggressive virus is not to be taken lightly.

"Never in a million years would we have thought our 27-year-old sister would be infected with this virus and almost lose her life."

"People have got to take this seriously."

A GoFundMe campaign was set up on Thursday morning and raised $33,500, far exceeding its $1,000 goal.

The campaign descriptions described Sites as someone with a "strong soul and has a lot of fight in her!"

"We need to continue to pray for the healing hands of the nurses and doctors caring for Megan and her growing baby boy."

"We need to pray Megan can get through this so she can come home safely and healthy. She needs to come home to her little girl, Reign Michelle, and her husband, Donny."