Santa Ana father of 7 dies after battle with COVID-19
A close-knit family from Santa Ana continues to mourn the loss of their father while trying to scrape enough funds to help pay for the funeral.
SANTA ANA, Calif. (KABC) -- A Santa Ana family hosted a car wash Sunday to scrape together funds as they continue to mourn the death of their loved one, a father of seven who died after a battle with COVID-19.
Jose Ramos Moreno went to the hospital five weeks ago, saying he couldn't breathe and tested positive for the coronavirus. He died Monday.
Moreno was a husband, father and grandfather.
"It hit our family hard," his daughter Carolina Gonzalez said. "It can happen to anyone."
The close-knit family held a car wash, working together to scrape enough money to pay for Moreno's funeral.
Moreno's heartbroken wife initially tested positive for COVID-19, but has since tested negative. She says her partner of 32 years was a kind man who made her laugh every day.
"He was the type who would make people laugh," Gonzalez said. "He's the type everybody wanted at his party or you would hear someone laughing, it's my dad."
Moreno spent three weeks on a ventilator in a coma and never recovered.
"We would see stories, successful stories about families who had loved ones in the hospital because of COVID and miraculously they woke up. But that wasn't the case for us," Gonzalez said.
A GoFundMe page has been started to help the family pay for the funeral.
