California father dies of coronavirus at 47; all 10 family members test positive

An Azusa household is coping with probably the most heartbreaking of outcomes after COVID-19 unimaginably unfold via their dwelling, all 10 members turning into contaminated with the virus. The patriarch misplaced his life to it.

Guillermo Ramirez, 47, was the husband, father, grandfather and truck driver — and the household’s major supplier. He died final week simply days after he entered the hospital, leaving his household devastated and mourning a person who was their all the pieces.

First the stats: Three family members had been hospitalized, and two have recovered and returned dwelling to be with the remainder of the household to proceed their restoration.

However the lack of their dad/grandfather has hit everybody onerous.

Guillermo Ramirez married his highschool sweetheart Luciana, 46. The 2 met once they had been 16 and had been collectively for greater than 30 years. They’d seven youngsters, although one died as an toddler, and three grandchildren who dwell with them.

Guillermo Ramirez has two brothers and two sisters, and he was the youngest of his siblings.

“He beloved me, I used to be like his princess,” stated Luciana Ramirez, who suffered a lot milder signs with coronavirus, a fever and complications. “He was an enormous, candy teddy bear. I used to be spoiled: He would do something for me, something for our children.

“He would assist out individuals he didn’t know. He was like that; we had been all like that. It was at all times about paying it ahead, and his coronary heart was so huge. And he meant a lot to all of us.”

Most of Guillermo’s Ramirez’s youngsters are already younger adults, like Alexia Ramirez, 26, who lives close by and by no means contracted coronavirus. She began a GoFundMe page for her father to assist with funeral prices and for the household who relied financially on him.

“We’re all devastated from this loss,” Alexia wrote on her dad’s GoFundMe web page. “We didn’t get to say goodbye and even see him earlier than he handed. We beloved him a lot and he beloved us a lot. He awakened day-after-day and went to work with no complaints. He didn’t should go this younger and it wasn’t his time. We had so many plans, household footage, journeys to Las Vegas, and watching his three grandchildren develop up. We weren’t ready for him to go away us.”

Guillermo Ramirez was a truck driver whereas his youngsters had been younger, usually making lengthy hauls whereas Luciana Ramirez watched the youngsters. In recent times, he labored as a truck driver for an asphalt firm and infrequently labored additional time or double shifts. He by no means complained, the household says.

He was the final word household man, at all times in everybody’s enterprise as a result of his household meant a lot.

“He would name me on a regular basis. He at all times wished to know what was happening, how I used to be doing, how he might assist with one thing or simply be there to provide recommendation,” Alexia Ramirez stated.

“One of many issues he was most pleased with was constructing his credit score during the last two years. He had raised it to 700 and was so proud and was working with me and my mother on easy methods to enhance ours. He was simply there for no matter you wanted and by no means wished a factor in return.”

For instance, when Luciana Ramirez was younger, she at all times knew she wished to be a hairdresser, she stated. However then she married and began elevating youngsters, caring for the youngsters whereas her husband was out for lengthy stints.

Somewhat greater than a decade in the past, with most of her youngsters sufficiently old to take care of themselves, her husband had a shock for her: He instructed her to go to the close by Marinello’s College of Magnificence, and provides them her title.

“He had paid for me to go faculty, so I might dwell out my dream,” Luciana Ramirez stated. “The whole lot was executed and paid for. He didn’t ask me if I used to be prepared for for it. He simply instructed me, ‘You’re prepared, go do it.’” It was her time to shine.

“That’s the person he was. That’s the person I married. He beloved me and beloved us all a lot, and I went on to grow to be a hairdresser. That’s why that is so onerous. He labored onerous, nevertheless it was all for us. The whole lot he did out of affection for me and our household, Luciana Ramirez stated.

COVID-19 enters a home

The Ramirez household took all of the mandates critically: They didn’t depart their dwelling apart from the necessities. They wore gloves and masks, washed their fingers continuously and even made it some extent to wipe off their groceries.

Luciana Ramirez stated her husband made it some extent to solely permit himself and his oldest son Guillermo Jr., 25, to purchase groceries or make needed journeys. She stated Guillermo Sr. not often interacted with anybody at work.

Due to the shutdown, Luciana Ramirez was out of labor and others within the dwelling had been both additionally out of labor or at school, all obeying the stay-at-home orders.

4 of the Ramirez’s youngsters lived on the dwelling, together with Guillermo Jr., Themo, 24, who was ready to renew truck driving faculty, and Beatrize, 21, who was taking on-line faculty lessons. Their youngest son David, 12, was out of faculty and the three youngest had been the grandchildren, Andrew, 3, Francisco, 2, and 7-month-old Evanny.

“My dad was paranoid earlier than the shutdown and after the shutdown. No person was allowed to go anyplace. He was actual protecting of everybody,” Alexia Ramirez stated. “I might cease by as a result of I’m so shut, however my dad didn’t even need me in the home. He was as cautious as you possibly can be.

“After which it began to occur. We don’t know why or who (contracted) it first, nevertheless it began occurring quick.”

Round mid-April, Luciana Ramirez was the primary to expertise signs. She had an upset abdomen and fever and instantly began isolating in one of many dwelling’s 5 bedrooms.

The following day, Guillermo Jr. got here down with a fever and different signs, and he remoted himself in a room too.

However as a house with so many underneath one roof, it grew to become unattainable to guard everybody, even with the precautions, Alexia Ramirez stated.

“After my mother and brother received sick, my dad, and everybody, apart from the youngsters, began exhibiting signs, and so they had been remoted in several rooms everywhere in the home. Then everybody began getting examined,” Alexia Ramirez stated.

“My mother and Guillermo (Jr.) went via a drive-through testing place. Then my dad went. Then the others went, and so they all examined optimistic — even the youngsters, however they by no means confirmed any signs.”

Alexia Ramirez felt helpless. She went grocery searching for everybody and made meals to go away on the door. She wished to go inside to take care of her household, however her father forbade it.

“He wished me to guard myself; he didn’t need me to get it,” Alexia Ramirez stated. “I referred to as everybody, one after the other — that was how I checked on them. However they had been all sick, and there wasn’t way more I might do.”

Luciana Ramirez couldn’t imagine the way it unfold via their dwelling.

“We nonetheless don’t know the way it all occurred,” Luciana Ramirez stated. “All of us wore gloves, used hand sanitizers. Just one particular person went to the grocery retailer, after which when it hit us, it simply hit us.

Her mother, Herlinda Hernandez, 72, visited, and ended up getting sick. She stayed with the household as COVID-19 swept via the home.

“By no means, ever, did I believe it will be something like this,” Luciana Ramirez stated.

The household hoped they might all be capable to combat via it collectively. However clearly, some had it worse than others.

Guillermo Jr. couldn’t get away from bed, Alexia Ramirez stated. “He didn’t need to eat. It was terrible. The ambulance got here to take him to the hospital on April 24. The following day, my dad received worse, and he was taken to the hospital. The day after that, on April 26, they (the ambulance) got here to take my grandma to the hospital.

“It was terrible. Our neighborhood didn’t know what was happening.”

As every ambulance made the journey, relations needed to keep behind. However Alexia Ramirez, who didn’t share the identical dwelling, would comply with the automobiles to the hospital and watched from the car parking zone.

“I talked to the paramedics. I needed to watch them take them inside, and I might sit exterior for 3 and 4 hours. I simply wished them to know I used to be there,” Alexia Ramirez stated. “We had been calling the nurses on a regular basis to get updates. I talked to my brother on FaceTime, as a result of he hated hospitals, and I simply wished to calm him down. I knew he was afraid, so we had lengthy talks.

“Calls with my dad had been harder. He’s my greatest pal, and they’d get emotional. And I might inform he was having it powerful as a result of he sounded worse. You might hear his shortness of breath. I used to be nervous about him, however we thought he could be OK. We thought he would make it via.”

Worst fears realized

Simply three days after Guillermo Ramirez Sr., entered the hospital, Tuesday, April 28, Luciana Ramirez obtained an early morning telephone name from the hospital that shook her.

Only a day earlier, Luciana Ramirez thought her husband was bettering. She referred to as the hospital usually. She was instructed he was on 40% oxygen, and the message she obtained was that he was slowly making progress.

By Tuesday, the message was, “‘Your husband looks as if he’s having bother,’” Luciana Ramirez stated.

“That’s after I received scared, I stated, ‘What do you imply?” They stated they had been going to attempt to put him on a ventilator to see if that helps. That’s after I began panicking.”

The hospital urged her to get to the hospital as quickly as she might. Officers had been prepared to make an exception to permit her in, although hospitals typically have prohibited guests through the pandemic.

Luciana Ramirez instantly referred to as Alexia Ramirez, and her daughter might inform from the concern in her mother’s voice, it wasn’t good.

“It was 7:30 in morning, and he or she simply stored saying, ‘Your dad is sick. We’ve to go to the hospital now; they’re about to place him on a ventilator,’” Alexia Ramirez stated. “I had this unhealthy feeling in my abdomen, one thing you possibly can’t describe.

“I had my mother’s automobile, and I knew she shouldn’t drive, so I placed on my masks and my mother placed on her masks and face defend, and I went to choose her up. She sat within the again seat as a result of she didn’t need to give me the virus, and we received to the hospital, and my mother went inside. And I simply waited within the automobile.

“I referred to as my sister (Gabby) who lives in Newport Seashore, and instructed her it’s a must to come down right here, and that we will sit within the automobile till we all know what’s happening.”

However Luciana Ramirez reemerged from the hospital simply 15 minutes after coming into.

What Alexia Ramirez described is simply heart-wrenching.

“She got here out hysterical, screaming my title and saying, ‘He’s gone, your dad is gone,’” Alexia Ramirez recalled. “I stated, ‘No, mother, you’re incorrect.’ She simply stored screaming, ‘He’s gone, Alexia. He’s gone. Your dad is gone.’

Luciana Ramirez defined the workers stated his coronary heart couldn’t deal with the stress of the illness.

“I received my mother again within the automobile, and he or she’s screaming, ‘Guillermo, come again, come again, don’t depart me,’” Alexia Ramirez stated. Luciana Ramirez wasn’t allowed to see her husband for concern her signs, which had subsided, would return.

Admittedly, Luciana Ramirez stated she will’t keep in mind the occasions her daughter describes. It was all a blur. However she does keep in mind going inside, pondering she was simply going to get an replace on her husband’s standing.

When she arrived at his ground, she might see medical workers engaged on somebody, which turned out to be Guillermo Ramirez.

A health care provider finally instructed her the well being care suppliers did all the pieces they may, Luciana Ramirez stated.

“I simply began screaming and stored telling them, ‘Please, let me see him. If he hears my voice, he’ll come again. He loves me. He simply wants to listen to my voice.’ And I began screaming his title, hoping he might hear me.

“However I couldn’t go see him. I couldn’t even stroll in and say goodbye.”

He had no underlying situations, based on Alexia Ramirez. “He had a bodily at the least every year to be a truck driver, and there have been by no means any points.”

Alexia Ramirez drove her mother dwelling and instructed her to stay within the automobile. She referred to as her relations out and delivered the information, after which she made the telephone calls to the remainder of the household.

Then she needed to name her brother Guillermo Jr., who was nonetheless within the hospital. That was an particularly powerful dialog.

“My brother needed to cope with all of it by himself, on their own with none of us whereas he was preventing his combat,” Alexia Ramirez stated. “That is what’s so horrible about this: You don’t even get to say goodbye.”

Restoration

The day after his father handed, Guillermo Jr., was launched, having gone three consecutive days with out signs. He’s now recovering at dwelling.

On Sunday, after greater than every week within the hospital, the household’s grandmother, Herlinda Hernandez, was launched and can also be recovering at dwelling.

“She was in mattress seven days and never shifting, so she is going to want bodily remedy a number of occasions every week,” Alexia Ramirez stated of her grandmother. “However she’s getting higher. Everybody else is nearly previous this, however all of us nonetheless maintain our bodily distance. I nonetheless can’t hug anybody, I’ve received to attend some time longer.”

Grieving whereas social distancing is particularly onerous on Alexia Ramirez.

“I need to hug them and be round them, be with my mother,” Alexia stated. “The docs have stated they’re not contagious anymore, however my aunts and uncles are nervous and adamant that we simply wait a short time longer.

“We had been already cautious, however we’re being additional cautious. I don’t know if I’m scared I’ll get it, however I don’t need to get it for my household. I don’t need anybody to go need to undergo this anymore.”

It has been simply greater than every week since her husband handed, and Luciana Ramirez hopes their story serves as a warning for individuals who are careless or not taking COVID-19 critically. When she see’s protesters with out masks, screaming and standing side-by-side, it actually bothers her.

“I used to be wealthy with my household and my husband, he made me really feel that approach,” Luciana Ramirez stated. “He was all of the wealth I ever wanted and now he’s gone due to this.

“You assume staying at dwelling is hard? You assume shedding your job is hard? I might commerce all the pieces and something to have my husband again. What I went via, what my household goes via I wouldn’t want on anybody.”

She is aware of that being out of labor is tough financially, however she stated the protesters and those that need to hurry again to work must assume once more.

“It actually makes me unhappy as a result of when my husband was within the hospital, all he wished to do was come dwelling to me with me and his household . And also you see individuals on the market protesting,” Luciana Ramirez stated.

“The demonstrators are usually not pondering of different individuals’s households,” Luciana Ramirez stated. “That is so severe, and I don’t need anybody else to need to undergo what we went via.”

Even when it was over, it wasn’t over. A nurse who cared for her husband on the finish referred to as Luciana Ramirez to choose up his belongings.

“The nurse instructed me he simply stored saying time and again, ‘I simply need to go dwelling and see my spouse. I need to see my spouse, see my youngsters.’ She instructed me that, and it simply breaks you. All he wished to do in life was love me and supply for his household.

“So, I hope individuals take into consideration that the following time they’re complaining about being at dwelling,” she stated. “We might all do something to be at dwelling collectively proper now.”

The funeral, funds and the longer term

Since their story appeared on a neighborhood tv station final week, there was an outpouring of assist from the group, household, mates and Guillermo Ramirez’s co-workers. The GoFundMe web page has raised greater than $27,000 to assist ease the monetary burden, though within the weeks and months forward, they nonetheless have some calculating to do.

“My father had simply obtained his earnings tax test earlier than he handed, and so many have helped out, that we’re OK proper now,” Alexia Ramirez stated. “We’re nonetheless attempting to determine my mother’s unemployment scenario, and for lots of us all the pieces is on maintain. I’m in a position to do business from home, nevertheless it’s one thing we’ve got to determine. However first, we simply need to say goodbye to my dad.”

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, funerals and gatherings for mourning are restricted to 10 individuals.

“We’re going to have a viewing on Friday,” Alexia Ramirez stated. “My dad wished to be cremated, however all of us need to see him as a result of we didn’t get to see him within the hospital. That’s vital to all of us. That’s our probability to say goodbye.’

Not all relations will be capable to attend the viewing.