CUAUHTEMOC, Mexico (NEXSTAR) – A 28-year-old nurse in Mexico recorded a heartrending message for his family shortly before dying of COVID-19 as virus cases soar in the country.
A woman in the background of the video can be heard softly crying as Sergio Humberto Padilla Hernández, of Chihuahua, tells his family, “The moment of truth has arrived. I’m going to have a tracheal intubation.”
Milenio reports that the video was recorded Nov. 5, the day before he died.
“I want that, whatever happens, whatever prognosis God has in store for me, they always remember me for what I was and for what I am,” he said in Spanish between breaths of oxygen. “I will see you again my friends, my family, I love you. I know you will be praying for me and my health, for my wellbeing. Come what may, I know you are always looking out for my best interests. I love you, you are in my heart.”
Hernández decided to record the video after losing his 30-year-old sister Dolores to COVID-19 complications in August, according a GoFundMe. In the days before his death, Hernández lost 90 percent of his lung function and doctors decided his only chance of survival was to go on a ventilator.
The GoFundMe described him as a “tireless” and “dedicated” nurse who worked at a municipal hospital in Cuauhtemoc helping coronavirus patients until he contracted the illness. Family members said he died hours after making the video.
“He went back to work and he was continuing on the front lines of helping people with Covid at the hospital where his sister had passed and his mom had been sick, he then contracted Covid himself,” cousin Adalberto Hernandez told CNN.
Hernández leaves behind his wife Denise, son Sergio III, parents and sisters Grace and Carla.
The virus has hit the northwestern state of Chihuhua hard. Hospitals are now reaching maximum occupancy and are being forced to turn people away, Milenio reports.
Mexico now has the fourth-most COVID-19 deaths of any country in the world, with 97,056 as of Friday evening, according to Johns Hopkins data. There have been more than 991,830 cases recorded.
- The Commonwealth’s total case count has increased to 463,751. The number of deaths in the state is 6,002.
- The NFL has invited thousands of health care workers who received the coronavirus vaccine to the upcoming Super Bowl in Tampa, the league announced Friday.
- A handful of new coronavirus strains have emerged overseas and health officials believe they are more contagious than the original.
- Virginia residents frustrated with the slow COVID-19 vaccine rollout are finding luck when they travel south of the state border.
- It’s a striking contrast to Donald Trump’s White House, which was the epicenter of no less than three separate outbreaks of COVID-19, their true scale not fully known because aides refused to discuss cases publicly.
- Even after President Biden's announcement of his national COVID-19 strategy, vaccination anxiety is still prevalent all over the country, including hard-hit California.
- Dave Chappelle tested positive for the coronavirus just before his comedy show scheduled for Thursday, forcing his upcoming appearances to be canceled, a spokeswoman said.
- The wearable test strips, currently in development at UCSD, would change color if the virus is detected in a person's breath or saliva.
- A top Virginia public health official says he's confident no COVID-19 vaccine doses have gone to waste, despite hiccups in the state’s rollout of the vaccine.
- A Chesterfield dental center is not just filling cavities anymore — they are also filling a desperate gap in the county's vaccination rollout.
