Rito Vital- A True Warrior!

His journey:

On March 19th, my father was feeling slighlty ill with a sore throat and fever. He decided to get a check- up at Good Samaritan Hospital.  At this hospital, doctors told him he had flu-like symptoms and that he should just go home, take Tylenol and rest to get better. One week later, on March 26th, my father was still sick, with the same symptoms but also feeling short of breath. We immediately took action and called the paramedics. The ambulance arrived and took my father to the nearest hospital, Hollywood Presyterian and had him wait outside by the tents. The doctors examined him with pneumonia but didn't prescribed him with any antibiotics. They simply told him to take pain relievers and his inhaler. My father had a medical history of diabetes and asthma, which should've made him a candidate to get tested for COVID. The next day (March 27th), he woke up with a very dry cough and felt dizzy. We drove him to Kaiser Permanente, where he was finally admitted and tested positive for COVID. During his stay, he felt very agitated. He was put on oxygen for a day but showed no signs of improvement. On his 2nd day, doctors suggested to put him on the ventilator, in which lasted over a month.  He was in an induced coma then doctors removed all the sedation drugs. After one week off meds, my father wasn't responsing and doctors considered him being in a natural coma. Thankfully within time, he began to wake up; this was where the first miracle occurred. But shortly after he was put on a tracheostomy. With the trach my father was showing improvements and ended up only requiring oxygen. As time went by, my father was detected with another complication that was caused by the trach placement . The trach thinned out his esophagus which caused a hole and making difficult to breath. My father had to undergo into surgery so his ruptured esophagus can be stitched. After the surgery happened, my father was put in danger; the surgeon and nurse informed us that he had a slight chance of  surviving. But, with the faith in God and my father being a fighter, he pulled through and started his road to recovery. By the month of July, my father was transferred to Kindred, a pulmonary rehabilitation facility, where he received therapy. On his third day of therapy, my father's lungs collapsed and was rushed to the ER at St. Judes Hospital. These doctors detected fluids in his lungs and had to insert chest tubes on each side. After a week later, he was transferred back to Kindred. When he was returned, my father began to have "anxiety attacks" and the nurses thought the best idea was to sedate him. From there, he was sedated for a month and was not able to see us. We would FaceTime him everyday thinking our voices would encourage him to keep fighting. Unfortunately after suffering for so long, other organs began to give up. On August 25th was his last day. He was a true warrior, he fought throughout many complications for five months until the last minute. There were multiple times where doctors stated he wasn't going make it but he always pulled through. One of his last advice was "Tengan mucho cuidado y cuidense mucho porque esto yo no se lo deseo a nadie."

Rito Vital was a beloved son, uncle, husband, and father. He was very humble and a hard working man with great work ethics. He was a cook, who always tried to invent new dishes. He was a man filled with advice and someone who always put others before himself. He was extremely respectful and very loving to our mother, he would always showing up with surprises. He raised a family of 5, and provided us with everything he could. Words can't describe his personality, he was simply an extraordinary man. 

As a family, we are hurt knowing that he is no longer in our presence, but we are at ease and comfort knowing he is no longer suffering.

Thank you in advance for the support. Thank you for your condolences, your thoughts and prayers. We hope that God blesses you with much more in the future. Can't thank you guys enough. Much love!

-Familia