This Mission family is enduring a nightmare from which there is no waking

2 weeks ago 64

The United Way of South Texas is collecting contributions for the family, which will receive 100% of all donations. You can help them by calling the United Way of South Texas at (956) 686-6331 and ask about the Spirit of Christmas campaign.

MISSION — Jose Corona-Guzman first met his wife, Emily Garza, about eight years ago at a drive-thru where she used to work.

After a month of friendship, he asked her on a date which sparked a whirlwind romance that culminated in their marriage.

Throughout their time together, the couple had three daughters and a son in addition to three children she had from a previous relationship.

Jose, 29, was the sole breadwinner for their family and would work while Emily stayed home to take care of their kids.

Over the weekends, Jose recalled using that time to take their children to the park and just spend time together, doing simple things such as laundry.

On Saturday, Oct. 12, Jose awoke to Emily complaining about discomfort in her ankle, so Jose offered to massage it and they didn’t think much more of it afterward.

When she woke up on Sunday she complained that the pain was getting worse.

It was then that they decided to go to a clinic, where she was told she must’ve torn a tendon and placed a brace on her foot without prescribing pain medication.

“She was crying all Sunday morning,” Jose, who spoke in Spanish, said with a worried look as he recalled the events of that day. “We didn’t sleep — her because of the pain and me because I was taking care of her.”

The next day, Monday, he took Emily to a hospital in Weslaco, where they were residing at the time. Unfortunately, she left the hospital learning nothing more. At least this time, however, she was prescribed pain medication.

Around 5 p.m. Emily woke up from a nap wanting to shower because she felt feverish. After her shower, she wanted to remove the brace in order to keep the bed from getting wet.

“As I’m taking it off I notice that as I’m removing the brace some of her skin comes with it,” Jose said, adding that he had suggested taking her to a doctor again but she refused.

She told him not to worry and that it would go away eventually.

After a while, Emily said that she was no longer in pain. But Jose noticed that she was experiencing chills and recalled her taking about three showers that day due to her feeling very hot.

A couple hours later she told him that she no longer felt any symptoms and began doing house chores and feeding their baby.

“Everything seemed normal,” Jose said.

That day, everyone went to bed around 8:30 p.m. due to their daughters having school in the morning.

Around 1 a.m. Tuesday, Jose awoke to something cold touching him.

When he opened his eyes he saw his wife struggling to speak, he remembered her managing to tell him that she needed to go to the bathroom but could no longer feel her legs.

“When I took the blanket off of her I noticed that her foot was swollen and reddish and with blisters,” Jose said.

He wanted to take her to the hospital but she asked him to wait until after they drop off their kids at school later that morning. She was hesitant to see a doctor again because they had already told her the same thing during both visits.

Jose remembered carrying his wife to the shower so that she could get ready to leave.

“After I sat her down in the tub and removed my arms (from underneath her), I had removed some of her skin,” Jose said.

He told Emily that her skin peeling off was not normal, and she agreed to go back to the hospital.

At the same time, their newborn son, Jose Jr., began to cry. So she asked him to feed their son first and then they would head to the hospital.

As he was feeding their son he noticed Emily began to move her mouth slowly and her skin began to yellow. He kept asking her if there was something wrong and Emily only moved her mouth slowly.

She suddenly began to convulse.

“I don’t know how but I put the baby in the crib and ran to grab her,” Jose said. “Her hands began to paralyze and I called 911.”

The operators had instructed him to move Emily to the ground and start chest compressions while they made their way to the family’s home.

“In desperation I did it. She wouldn’t do anything else but move her mouth. The baby was crying,” Jose recalled, adding that he was so worried that he yelled at the operator for other instructions.

When two EMT personnel arrived they took over chest compressions while Jose tended to their baby.

A few minutes later Jose approached the EMT after he noticed that they were no longer by Emily’s side. He recalled asking them what was happening and how he could help but no one was telling him anything.

It wasn’t until another EMT arrived that he heard “the worst thing one could hear,” Jose said.

Emily died around 3 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 15. She was 30. And just like that, after nearly a decade’s-long romance that yielded children and a home and a life together with a woman he endearingly called “super beautiful,” she was gone.

Jose later learned that she had a bite on her ankle that he has since been told was consistent with either a snake or a spider bite. The bite had caused a rare infection that ate at her skin until it reached a vein.

“The first month was somewhat difficult for me and the girls,” Jose said, adding he didn’t want to return to work because he felt he couldn’t leave his kids alone.

He was told not to return to his home in Weslaco due to the animal or insect that may have bit Emily, possibly still in the area of their home.

Jose explained that Hidalgo County helped provide him with a hotel room for about a week while he looked for a place to stay.

“Those seven days in the hotel allowed me to think clearly of where I was going to place my kids and what was my best option,” Jose said.

He recalled wanting to give up but was motivated to do better thanks to a social worker who pushed him to get back up.

It was only a few weeks ago, in late November, that Jose found work in Brownsville and a place for him and his family to stay in Mission.

“It’s not the same because I can not be what my wife was,” Jose said, adding that little by little he’s learning how to be two parents. “My daughter’s make fun of me and call me ‘mommy.’”

This Christmas, Jose — now as a single father — has given a lot of thought to the kind of home he wants to create for his family, one filled with love and memories of their mother.

First things first. The children need clothing and shoes, and the new home needs to be furnished as it’s lacking nearly everything, except for maybe beds. Jose’s hope for his kids is that by Christmas, they can find something to celebrate in a place that they can call home as a family again.

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