Joe Trejo was on a fan in the intensive care unit in St. Louis for ten days. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton and could not communicate with his wife, Patty, and their three sons.
But on Monday, when a mariachi band played the couple’s favorite song in the parking lot and sent it to them via a smartphone in the ICU, she said, Joe responded – if ever so subtly.
“I know he heard me and I know he heard the music,” she said, referring to “La Mano de Dios” (“The Hand of God”) as rendered by Aurelio Reyes el Gallo de Chiapas, a trio mariachis she hired. .
Patty Trejo arranged a mariachi band to play ‘La Mano de Dios’ (‘The Hand of God’), her husband Joe’s favorite song.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
“When I talk to him, he actually talks a little bit and he opens his eyes and his body moves,” she said. ‘I started praying even harder, and he opened his eyes again … I had to put my arms around him and [hold] his hand, and I had to kiss him. ”
Patty, 54, a teaching assistant in Placentia-Yorba Linda’s Unified School District, said she knows Joe, a 53-year-old locksmith at Anaheim Union High School District, is not out of danger.
He’s been in hospital for a month with COVID-19 and has been struggling with the complications of pneumonia since he was placed in a ventilator – the same day her 95-year-old father, Epie Rios, died after struggling with the virus.
Patty and two of the couple’s three sons – Chris, Matthew and Joseph, aged between 18 and 31 – also had COVID-19 and were recovering. Everyone was in the hospital on Monday, and everyone is hopeful that Joe will get it right.
Nurse Celina Mande holds a phone with the mariachi band.
(Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times)
She said he did not like being the center of attention and would not be happy that she had been made aware of his illness. But she said she had to do it to thank their friends and co-workers and to enlist new “prayer warriors” for him.
“We hope the pneumonia will improve, and as soon as it gets better, he can start recovering,” Patty said. “He gives me strength to keep going and keep fighting, and I just want to say ‘thank you’ to everyone who helped us through this. ‘
Patty said she knows the chances get longer with each day her husband stays in a fan.
“I know they say if the chance is not down after ten days, the chance is slim,” she said. ‘But I say, OK, it takes time to heal and I’ve seen miracles. He will be our miracle. ”