Coronavirus Story: Lonely Husband's Touching Last Wish To Family Found On His Cell Phone
DANBURY, Conn. (CBSNewYork) - Jonathan Coelho was just 32 when he died last week from cardiac arrest due to the coronavirus.
While he was hospitalized the Connecticut man wrote a final love letter on his phone for his family. Katie Coelho shared her story with CBS News lead national correspondent David Begnaud.
Jonathan Coelho spent the last 27 days of his life at a hospital in Danbury, Conn., fighting to live. He died alone.
He wrote a note to his wife on his cell phone. Katie got it after he died when the hospital staff gave her Jonathan's belongings.
Jonathan had written the note to katie and their two kids.
To his 2-year-old son Braden, who has special needs, Jonathan wrote: "Tell him he's my best bud and I'm proud to be his father."
To his 4-month-old daughter Penelope, he wrote: "Let her know she's a princess and she can have whatever she wants in life."
To his wife Katie, he thanked her for giving him the best life he could asked for. Then he said, "If you meet someone, don't hold back, because if they love you and the kids like I do, then I love that for you."
Did Jonathan Coelho know his time had come?
"I think he did, I think he was scared," said Katie. "That was written the day before, the few hours actually before he was intubated and we were still texting and communicating during this time.
"You don't fight for 28 days and think that you're not going to come home, so I don't think he gave up," she said. "But I think he knew that if it was going to be that bad, that I wasn't going to talk to be able to talk to him again, and he knew that I would need something."
Time would be another loss for their family.
"My kids are so young and they're not going to know their dad or remember their dad, so we're gonna have to share with them what a great person he was," said Katie. "I think he wanted them to hear from him, how much he loved them and how much he cared about them."
What he wrote may end up etched in some kind of stone or artwork at the family's home.
"Actually his best man at our wedding found my husband's wedding vows," she said. "He had emailed to him the day of our wedding, which I haven't seen or heard since the day we got married. And he sent them to me. And seeing the words, he said the first day we became husband, wife. And then the last words he said to me, it just echoed how much like the love had just increased.
"It was just so you could see from start to finish, my husband worshipped us and I'm so thankful I have those words, but they're also very haunting because they all I have left," she said.
More than $800,000 have been donated by strangers through a GoFundMe page for Katie and her family.
Johnathan Coelho survived childhood cancer twice. Katie says doctors told her they were convinced he was going to recover. In fact, doctors said at one point his lungs were clear of the virus, but COVID-19 had wrecked his most vital organs.
If you are interested in helping the Coelho family, go to gofundme.com/f/vbe3b-covid19-relief.
