PHOENIX — A Valley COVID survivor opens up about the pain and devastation she’s felt from the loss of her husband due to the virus.
Katherine Hernandez doesn’t want others to feel sorry for her, but rather she hopes to encourage others to take precautions. She doesn’t want anyone to have to experience what she’s had to.
“It’s this whole COVID pandemic and the loss of my husband as a result of it,” said Hernandez, holding back tears, talking about her husband Richard of 41 years, who lost his life to COVID-19.
“It hit us at the end of June,” she said.
She said Richard never had a fever, but he did struggle with breathing issues.
After following the doctor’s orders while taking an antibiotic and using a rescue inhaler, his breathing worsened, so she took him to the hospital.
“They’re taking his vitals and immediately put him on oxygen, and they looked at me and they said you need to leave,” she said. “I got a phone call telling me he was positive with COVID. It’s so hard to leave somebody.”
While trying to stay in touch as best she could, Katherine found out she contracted the virus.
“I had a 101.2 temperature,” said Hernandez. “I never let him know that I was as sick as I was.”
And several of their kids and grandkids.
“Two of my three tested positive for COVID… Five of our six grandchildren had COVID,” she said. “It’s been traumatic for us.”
After a week, doctors had to intubate Katherine’s husband.
“It’s the most scary situation to walk into,” she said.
By July, his vitals dropped.
“So, I went and said my goodbyes at that point and time,” she said. “It’s been devastating.”
Through her pain and suffering, Katherine shares her heartbreak in hopes others will take the precautions they need to, to stay safe.
“Do it for your families, do it for yourselves, you just don’t realize if it hasn’t touched you,” she said. “I’m not sure what I could have done different, but I sure wish something could have been done different.”
Thankfully, Katherine and all her kids and grandkids have since recovered and all of them were able to recover without being hospitalized.