Covid has taken lives for the past two years; on Wednesdays, January 5, a mother's worst nightmare came true. My 28-year-old daughter had left her six siblings and her parents. After coming home from work, I lay in bed thinking of visiting my daughter first thing tomorrow morning. I fell asleep when my son came to me and told me the doctor had called. At around 12:30, my son had received one of two phone calls. The doctor called, saying that my daughter had been intubated because the oxygen mask was no longer working for her. This was her sixth day in the hospital; She had been on oxygen since we took her to the ER on New Year's Eve, where we all spent the night praying for our daughter. My son continued to tell me that while the doctor was explaining this to him, he heard a machine quickly begin to go off in the background. Then the doctor hung up and didn't call back until 40 minutes later. He said the phone finally ranged again and it was the doctor. He had apologized for hanging up. He stated that the machine that went off was her heart, and she was not doing well. As my son told me this, my heart was shattered; my little girl was fighting for her life as we spoke but little did I know how this would end. My son told me the doctor wanted us to go see her as soon as we could, and he told him that we would be there tomorrow morning; the doctor paused and responded, "Sir, your sister has 5 minutes to live." I didn't think twice after I heard those words from my son. I changed faster than I ever had and me my two sons and my two daughters made our way to the hospital. My husband, who was working at the time, was informed, and he was on his way over.

The 5-minute drive to the hospital felt like hours. All I could do was pray. I told God, please don't take my daughter, please do not take my chinita. I remember walking the halls of that hospital, anxious to see my daughter, my heart beating; my eyes filled with tears. As I get closer to my daughter's room, I see the nurse's taking out the machines from my daughter's room; my worst nightmare is as if someone had pictured it and made me live it. I looked at my son, who was with me; they were taking the things out, and he told me we had to wait and see what the doctor was going to say to us. The doctor began telling us all the problems my daughter had; he told us that she had covid and very high blood sugar; after they intubated her, her oxygen levels stabilized, but her heart could not take the loss of oxygen. He said they did CPR for about 30 minutes, but her heart gave out.

I got to see my gorgeous girl laying in bed with no pulse; her body was cold and stiff, her eyes closed there was no longer a rise and fall of her chest. I broke down into my son's arms; why did he take her, my beautiful smiling girl with such a huge heart and a Contagious laugh it was almost impossible to believe. The rest of my kids and my husband arrived, and we all cried together. I could see all of my kids there crying for their sister. And I had my two oldest on FaceTime so they could see their sister one last time, and for the first time in a while, My seven kids, my husband, and I were together. We all cried for hours in the hospital, and they allowed us to. No parent should have to see their kids die; we aren't built for this amount of pain. All I could say to myself was, why wasn't I there? Why didn't I spend more time with her? I wasn't there with her in her last moments when she gave her last laugh, her last breath when she moved her arms for the last time, just like I was there for all of her first's. I just thought about how much I protected her as a child making her teas when she was sick, waking up at night to check on her, brushing through her mounts of curly hair; my beautiful daughter is now gone. The last thing somebody wants to do is ask for money, but when it comes to your kids, you will do anything for them, and this is me doing the last thing for my daughter her funeral where I can say goodbye for the last time until I meet her again in heaven. 

My daughter was 28 years old. She was our middle child, the glue of my little soccer team. She was kind-hearted and full of joy. She and her siblings all got along so well; they weren't just blood siblings; they were friends and advice and helped one another. My little girl was huge. She loved the smile it brought on people's faces when they received a lovely gift on giving gifts. She was an aunt to 7 amazing kids who mostly will not remember her. She missed out on so much that she will not meet the rest of my grandkids; she won't see her younger sister graduating from high school, nor will I see her again in this world. My kids are my whole life. I work for them and live for them. I love everyone, and now I have one watching me from heaven. Anything helps; thank you so much for your donations. May God bless you in everything you do.