Helping La familia Rodriguez

COVID19 has left many families emotionally bankrupt as people face the hard truth of losing loved ones and the Rodriguez Family, part of my family, is unfortunately one of those families facing this horrific truth.  Along with the loss of loved ones, they also have to face the loss of income and a pile of medical and other bills.  It is awful to have to think about these things after losing your son and partner in life but that is exactly what my Madrina, Elvira Rodriguez, has to do now.  

My Madrina is the kind of person that is always willing to put everyone before herself.  She is very dedicated to God and to her family.  That is why this is the biggest challenge that she has faced in her entire life.  She has lost one of her beautiful children that she dedicated so much of her life to and her husband, her partner in life, for the past 37 years.  COVID19 took two people from her in a matter of less than a month.  She lost her youngest son, Juan, two days after Christmas.  This is something that would surely test anyone’s faith, but hers has not wavered.  She still remains dedicated to God and to her family as she navigates how to move forward through this grief.

If it helps at all understand the mounting financial need I will offer the details as I understand them in how this all happened so quickly.  


My Tio, Mardoqueo Rodriguez, had to have a surgery.  The doctors informed the family that the surgery could not wait.  Even though California was experiencing a huge COVID19 surge, the surgery was that necessary.  The entire family was together on the 15th of December, the night before my Tio’s surgery.  Everyone in the family, Elvira, Mardoqueo, and their four kids live in the same household.  They made the point to be together the night before his surgery even though everyone in the household was sick.  This goes to show how important family is to my Madrina and my Tio.   He had the surgery and seemed to be recovering fairly well.  The family was able to text and call him, but they weren’t able to visit because of restrictions due to COVID.  He initially tested negative for COVID which is why he could have the surgery.  He was discharged but was readmitted December 21, 2020 because he started having shortness of breath.  In the meantime, Juan, the youngest son in the family tried to be strong for his mother and did not disclose to her he was not feeling well. Juan was admitted the same day his father had surgery, December 16, 2020.  Juan would never make it back home.  He succumbed to COVID19 after a terrible battle for 11 days in the hospital and died two days after Christmas.  Even though Juan was an adult, he was still my Madrina’s baby boy and he was not at home and she was not allowed to see him or hold him because of the COVID restrictions.  This was heart wrenching for my Madrina.  Also in the meantime, her other son, Jorge, was admitted for COVID19 complications on December 23, 2020.  On Christmas Day, she had two of her boys in the hospital and her husband.  This is almost more than any mother or wife should have to bear.  Juan passed away alone in the hospital on December 27th and the medical experts advised her not to tell her husband or other son, Jorge, that were both battling COVID in the same hospital.  They said that sometimes it makes patients unable to fight as hard as they need to to get well if they are in so much emotional pain.  As hard as it was, she was able to keep this news from her son and husband for almost two weeks.  That was the worst time for her, she could not be honest with them when they would ask about Juan.  Eventually Jorge figured out that Juan was gone.  This was so hard on her.  They eventually had to tell my Tio as well.  Jorge was finally able to come home on January 6, 2021 but is dealing with the after effects of COVID including being on oxygen full time even still two weeks later.  My Tio was still in the hospital when Jorge was able to come home.  He had by this time been diagnosed with COVID.  After finding out about the loss of his son, Juan, he was resolved to make it home to his wife and help her through this horrific ordeal.  He did begin to make some strides in getting better and then suddenly on January 14th things went very bad very quickly.  At this point he had been in the hospital for around 4 weeks between the two hospital stays.  He had an infection from the surgery.  He was battling COVID and he started having problems with his heart.  His blood pressure dropped.  He coded twice on the 16th of January and they finally had to intubate him.  He could not fight any longer and passed away at 9:30 pm on January 16, 2021. 


Again, more grief than any person should have to endure but my Madrina must.  She has three kids still at home.  One who is still recovering and has ongoing medical needs.  Her household went from four wage earners to one.  She has an uphill battle but she is determined.  Her family, including my Madre, her sister, Catalina, is so heartbroken that they cannot be with her because of the surge in California, no one can risk going to be with her at this time.  It is really very difficult for her to be facing all of these things alone.  I imagine that she feels lost but for her faith in God. 


I will always remember my cousin, Juan Miguel Rodriguez, as being very funny, blunt, and very caring, especially toward his mother, Elvira.  When we would visit he would always make sure we had everything we needed to make our visit special.  His brothers and sister remember him being so self deprecating that he would call himself an idiot when in reality he was the only one in the family that could solve complex math problems.  That always made them smile that he could do that.  They also say he was one of the kindest people they knew.  He was a great brother and loyal to friends and family alike.  He was just starting to make real strides in being an adult and left this life way too early.


I will always remember my Tio, Mardoquero, as an adventurer.  So funny and caring.  I remember he couldn’t wait to retire so he could visit Colorado and really do some outdoor adventures with my husband, Julio and I.  His kids feel very fortunate to have had him for their father.  They learned how to be hard workers from him.  They learned how to be kind from him and they will miss him terribly.


But most of all I want to help my Madrina as much as I can in any way I can.  As you might have guessed she has many bills coming in from three people being in the hospital.  She also has bills piling up from daily life.  It has impacted her greatly this loss both emotionally and financially.  I wish our families could wrap each other up in love and faith and that would solve all of the logistical problems like money and bills but in this world, it doesn’t work that way and heartbreakingly we cannot even do that just for emotional support.


Thank you for reading all of this - if you have read this far and find it in your heart that you are willing to give anything at all - I thank you from the bottom of my heart and I know this will not go unappreciated by them in their time of need.  Thank you so much.