SAN ANTONIO — Gilda Monrreal was hospitalized with the coronavirus for 10 days. When she was well enough to come home and begin self-quarantine, she was faced with the sad task of planning three funerals.
In the span of just one month, Monrreal said, she lost her mother, Stella, and two of her sisters to the disease.
“Dianne died March 26. Mom died April 21. Rose died April 26,” Monrreal said.
While she said the online fundraising campaign for funeral expenses is a comfort, her main concern is sharing the hard lessons learned by her devastated family.
“At this point, it's not the money—it's the awareness," she said. "Because the danger needs to be known. It needs to be known."
After fighting for her life, Monrreal said her advice for others is: “It's real, it's real. It's not something to take lightly.”
Monrreal said now that she is finished with her third quarantine period, and only ventures out when it is absolutely necessary, she is shocked by what she sees in the community.
“It upsets me. It hurts me,” Monrreal said, referring people who are not following the city’s health guidelines.
“I see people just walking around without masks. I see women wearing masks, but their children aren't wearing masks,” Monreal said. “I don't feel sorry for them, and I don't get mad. I just pray for them, I pray for their health.”
Monrreal said she is grateful for the many health care workers who tried their best to save her and her family.
“I pray for the doctors and the nurses and the wonderful people that took care of me when I was in the hospital,” Monrreal said, adding she worries about the many people in service jobs who are risking their own health to help others. “When I see a cashier and I see them covered and they're wearing their gloves, and they're protected, I know they are on the front lines."
Monrreal said the loss is too fresh for her to talk about the battle with people she sees who aren’t taking precautions, but she said, emphatically, that a trip to the store without practicing health guidelines is not worth the risk.
“When I see cashiers, I just thank them for protecting themselves, but I don't tell my story because it’s just too hard,” Monrreal said.
She said that before the virus swept through their modest family compound in west San Antonio, where four family members live next door to one another, they were a big, happy family.
Sharing pictures of parties, community events and motorcycle adventures, Monrreal said she and her five sisters lived large.
“We did a lot of things together,” Monrreal said.
Her husband, Roland, said the loss is difficult to accept.
“To me, in the blink of an eye, they were all three gone. And it's really hard,” Roland said, adding the most emotional challenge is knowing that Dianne died away from the family she treasured.
“It's sad because nobody could be with her by her side, to comfort her or anything. And then at her funeral, she was by herself again. Nobody could go see her," he said. "The hearse passed by the front of the house and she was just gone."
Monrreal said she is grateful to one friend who stood at a distance at the cemetery to record video of the burial so they would have something to remember.
“We wanted a procession, but it didn't happen because the cemetery only allowed X-amount of people because of social distancing," she said. "So my best friend found out about the funeral and she went in and she recorded it."
“That is what makes me sad and I break down when I think about it. I get angry. But I know my sisters wouldn't want me to be angry,” Monrreal said of the feelings of isolation and loss that sometimes overwhelm her.
Thinking about the future, where there will now be three empty places at the table, Monrreal said she is grateful for her faith and the life of love she has enjoyed.
“With God, he's been giving me my strength. My sisters and my mother gave me the best life and we have so many good memories and that's the way people should live,” Monrreal said. “People should just forgive, forget and be happy. Like we did.”
The GoFundMe account established for the family can be found here.