COVID 19 takes both parents of 2 Texas children 2 weeks apart

HOUSTON, Texas – When Isaiah Garcia, 14, stood on her mother’s body at her funeral earlier this month, she thought it was the most difficult thing she would do.

Two weeks later, her father also died.

“I couldn’t say goodbye to my mom or dad now, and that’s what hurts me the most right now,” said Garcia.

Her mother, Naomi Esquivel, 39, died on July 2 of COVID-19, according to her mother Rita Márquez-Mendoza.

Carlos García, 44, husband of 24 years of Naomi, attended his funeral with his two children, Isaías and Nathan, 11.

Garcia was recovering from the virus when he was hospitalized for kidney failure. On July 17, he was found insensitive and died from lack of oxygen, according to Márquez-Mendoza. Like Naomi, who was hospitalized for just one day, the end came quickly.

“He had just spoken to his son at 11 o’clock. He was pronounced dead at 12:24,” said Jacob Mendoza, the boy’s uncle, the father of four, who will now raise the children. “I love you with all my heart and I know this is what your parents would have wanted me to do.”

“At least since he (my father) passed away, we can be with our family,” Isaiah said. “We don’t have to go to an orphanage or anything. I’d rather be here than anywhere else right now.”

Both parents, who had underlying health conditions, were alone when they died. It is the reality of COVID-19 that weighs on Naomi’s mother.

“Dying now is more tragic than before because you die alone. You die alone, without the members of your family,” said Márquez-Mendoza.

The family has established a GoFundMe to help with children’s living expenses, as they try to cope with their own unimaginable loss.

“We hadn’t even started crying for my daughter and now we have to bury Carlos, and the grandchildren are left without mom or dad,” said Márquez-Mendoza. “This disease is just horrible.”

Garcia’s funeral is next Wednesday at The Promise Church of Houston.