“It’s very shocking and still trying to process it, and still trying to understand why,” Valerie Levario said.
Valerie’s 53-year-old father, Fabian “Chino” Levario, worked as a freelance handyman and played in a Long Beach orchestra for 20 years.
“It was his passion – to play music and be with his family,” Valerie said.
Fabian, who underwent a kidney transplant 16 years ago, never revealed how ill he was before he was hospitalized on November 23.
“It was hard for him to breathe. It was hard for him to talk,” Valerie said.
He will test positive for COVID-19.
Just over two weeks later, he died.
Valerie says during the planning of his funeral, Fabian’s sister Deborah became ill with pneumonia.
“I had my grandmother call 911 to take her to the hospital for the incident,” Valerie said.
Valerie says a blood test found COVID antibodies, suggesting Deborah was also infected. She later died.
Six days later, Deborah’s husband Armando Padilla, who according to Valerie had no underlying health conditions, would die from the virus.
Family members had to face 8-year-old Armando Jr. tells that he lost his father and mother.
“He sat there and looked at her and said, ‘My mother is in my heart. I know she’s not coming home. She’s in my heart now, and I’ll always have her in my heart.”
Valerie says they were careful. They did not get together and always wore masks, but it is not clear how they contracted the virus.
Valerie’s message: wear a mask and take the virus seriously.
“Do not be selfish. People are dying from this and it is not fair,” she said.
GoFundMe pages were set up to help pay for three cremations and set up a trust fund for Armando Jr., now cared for by his grandmother.
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