SAN ANTONIO — The walls inside a hospital witness the darkest of days. They hear the deepest devotions, oftentimes for peace.
"I was just happy he wasn't in any more pain," Veronica Arguello said as she recalled watching her baby brother pass away.
It was something she never wished for, but being there in his final days was, in a sense, an answered prayer.
"Just glad he wasn't alone," she said as she choked back tears.
But alone was oftentimes what Eloy Sifuentes was, as the veteran battled coronavirus more than a hundred miles from home.
"He lived in Brackettville, Texas, and he worked at Laughlin in Del Rio," Arguello said. "He started getting sick back towards the end of July. It just took a really strong hold on him."
A hold that would send Sifuentes to San Antonio for the last few months of his life, where he courageously battled COVID.
"For a while, he'd get better, then take steps back," Arguello explained. "He was in the hospital going into his fourth month and I just don't think his body could take it anymore."
Now, a white flag with his name stands at a memorial in Washington D.C. to mark one of the hundreds of thousands that have lost their lives to the virus.
People that will never watch their children grow up and leave grieving families with an important message.
"For the first time for our families, the holidays are going to be spent apart because we don't want to make each other sick," Arguello said. "Right now, you may not be touched by it. But the longer it goes on, eventually you will, and the best you can do for the people you love is to stay safe and to keep them safe."