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‘I didn’t think it would be us’: Las Cruces families watch loved ones battle virus via hospital windows

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico -- A hospital window is all that separated Norma Jimenez from her mother as she said her final goodbye.

"She's been a fighter from the start," said Jimenez, her oldest daughter. "That's what brings me peace. My daughters are strong. My nephews and nieces are strong."

For the past two weeks, her 76-year-old mother had battled Covid-19 at Memorial Medical Center. The intensive care unit is on the first floor. Jimenez asked that ABC-7 not share her mother's name.

"It was quick," Jimenez said, describing the early symptoms as like a head cold or sinus infection. "Once she got on the ventilator, she started going down fast."

On Monday after 11 a.m., the Jimenez family gathered around the grandmother's window as doctors removed her from a ventilator.

"We still had hope, but they told us yesterday there is no more hope," Jimenez said. "We decided to take her off the ventilator so she can go and be with God. When she steps out of here, she's going to go there."

Her family was not alone.

On the east side of the hospital, a man with a wedding ring peered into a room with a sign on the window that read "I love you mom! Can't wait to hear your beautiful voice."

A sign on another window read "A LMS (Lynn Middle School) teacher is fighting here."

On the north side of the building, a family brought a step-ladder to wave at their relative inside.

"I didn't think it was going to be us, but it is," Jimenez said. "I (hope to) save one family the pain of what we are all going through right now."

She urged Las Cruces residents to wear masks and stay home or risk bringing the deadly virus into their homes.

"I had to take a picture of her through the blinds with a ventilator," Jimenez said. "That's the last time I'm going to see of my mom. There's nothing worth risking your life or your family's life."

Article Topic Follows: Health

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Kate Bieri

Kate Bieri is a former ABC-7 New Mexico Mobile Newsroom reporter and weekend evening newscast anchor.

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