SAN ANTONIO — Within a span of just days, the coronavirus has impacted the three pillars of one San Antonio family.
A father and his two daughters all ended up in the ICU with the virus, and within the next eight days the three lost their battles.
“Moms take care of everything, and right now it’s like this big weight has just been thrown on me,” Desiree Moczygemba said, adding her three loved ones contracted COVID-19 within days of each other.
Moczygemba's mother, Delilah Bustos Arreola; her grandfather, Jose Bustos; and her aunt, Veronica Bustos Gonzalez, all at one point were in the ICU together.
While Desiree’s mom and aunt were intubated, she lost her grandfather.
Moczygemba recalls being at her grandfather's house when he became unconscious. He was taken to the hospital where he was on a bypass mask 17 days before he died.
"The day my aunt was intubated on August 17...she was intubated four hours prior to my grandfather's passing, so we were unable to inform her of my mom's critical state," she said.
“We were unable to inform my aunt as well of my grandfather’s passing, so she passed away, shortly after and I felt she kind of knew in her heart that her dad was gone."
At a critical time, she remembers the empathy her family showed for others.
“Very giving people. You needed something, they were there, and they were the ones to give you their last dollar,” she says.
The virus impacted the three otherwise healthy people who were not vaccinated against COVID-19. Meanwhile, Moczygemba said she, her father and her uncle had been immunized.
Among 16 close loved ones, there remains onlyone person working. Other family members are preparing to give birth to a child, she says.
Moczygemba says she doesn’t wish her situation on others, and wants them to get vaccinated.
“Would you rather take the chance…you lose (a loved one) for the rest of your life, or (for) a day or two you’re a little under the weather?”
She says she tested positive for the virus around the time she loved ones were in the hospital.
Moczygemba says they were a very close family, and the deaths feel like the loss of a second father and second mother to her.
“We like to say we’re 'Bustos Strong,' nothing can tear us apart. And at the end of the day, we come together,” Moczygemba said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the family’s funeral and medical expenses. A plate sale will be held to benefit the family on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 946 W Villaret.