This browser does not support the Video element.
Widow shares letter from husband he wrote before dying of COVID-19
Sonya Kypuros spoke with FOX Television Stations about the letter.
EDINBURG, Texas - Sonya Kypuros tears up thinking about the last words her husband emailed her from the hospital before dying of COVID-19.
"Bill was always really good about communicating how much he loved me," Kypuros told FOX Television Stations. "I never doubted his love for me."
Kypuros had been married to Billy Loredo for 14 years, but the couple had been together for 21 years.
Loredo, 45, died Dec. 13 after falling ill with COVID-19 on Nov. 16.
Kypuros believes her husband got sick after a co-worker tested positive for the coronavirus at his law office. Loredo then tested positive, and so did Kypuros.
The couple at first showed no symptoms. Loredo eventually developed a mild cough and congestion, but his symptoms got worse as the month progressed.
"And then he started to experience fevers," Kypuros said. That was when the couple went to the hospital on Thanksgiving.
"And that was the last time I saw Billy, " Kypuros said.
Billy Loredo (Credit: Sonya Kypuros)
RELATED: A look inside hospitals stretched thin during the holidays
The couple texted and FaceTimed each other while Loredo remained in the hospital. Kypuros said Loredo’s health went through a roller coaster of progress and decline.
Loredo eventually requested that doctors put him on a ventilator.
"When Billy made the decision to do that, I knew that’s what he needed," Kypuros said holding back tears. "I just needed anybody, who can pray, to pray with me because at that point, maybe that could save Billy’s life."
Kypuros said just before her husband went on a ventilator, she got a surprising e-mail from him on Dec. 8 with the subject line, "To the love of my life."
"I want you know that I am fighting very hard every day for my life," Loredo wrote in part. "I do it for you so that I can see you again. You are the most important person in my life and I miss you everyday."
"If I don’t make it I want you to know that I lived a happy wonderful life with you and would never have traded it for all the riches in the world," Loredo wrote.
E-mail from Billy Loredo to his wife. (Credit: Sonya Kypuros)
Kypuros responded to the email, professing her love to Loredo and encouraging him.
A few hours before he died, Kypuros was on the phone with doctors and heard the staff performing chest compressions on Loredo.
RELATED: 'We have a big problem': Experts fear the holidays will fuel the US COVID-19 crisis
"We could hear them," Kypuros said holding back tears. "I didn’t have the heart to tell them to stop. I didn’t know if that was right or wrong. I didn’t know if I was hurting him further. But I couldn’t say stop. I couldn’t be the one to say stop."
Kypuros continues to struggle to comprehend her loss.
"For some unexplainable odd reason, I guess Bill had been chosen to spread a bigger message," she said. She hopes that Loredo’s story will inspire people to take the COVID-19 pandemic seriously.
Kypuros urged people to do their part to stop the spread of COVID-19 by wearing a mask.
"It’s easy. It’s so easy to wear a mask," she added. "You’re not invincible from this."
This story was reported from Los Angeles.