A loving and caring sendoff, a son’s goodbye

The 10-year-old boy was sitting with his 6-year-old little brother and staff in the lobby of UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital as their dad was fighting for his life upstairs.

The dad was only 37. He had served his country in the U.S. Marine Corps and more recently, was working as an auto mechanic in Aurora.

But now, Javier Dozal had a terrible case of COVID-19. He had come to the hospital the night before, and now he was struggling to breathe as his organs, including his heart, were beginning to shut down. He kept having heart attacks. His medical team fought to bring him back each time, but the prognosis was grim.

Sarah Mather is a chaplain at University of Colorado Hospital. She received a call to help Javier’s family.

His wife, Cinthya Rodriguez, had brought their two sons with her to the hospital. No one would watch them since friends and relatives were afraid of getting COVID-19. Staff members stepped in and kept the boys busy in the hospital cafeteria with coloring books and toys.

Meanwhile, Sarah spent hours counseling Cinthya.

As her husband kept declining, Cinthya faced an impossible choice. Should she stay by her dying husband’s side? Or should she leave him to tell her children that their dad probably was not going to make it.

After struggling with her decision for hours, Cinthya turned to Sarah for help.

She asked the chaplain to go speak to her children.

“What do you want me to tell them?” Sarah asked.

Cinthya’s response was heartbreaking: “You will know what to say, but please tell them he is dying.”

Sarah went downstairs and talked with the boys. The 10-year-old, named Javier after his dad, shared many memories and said he wanted to say goodbye in person.

Because of visitor restrictions related to the pandemic, Sarah had to get special permission. Generally, children weren’t allowed in the hospital, much less in COVID-19 units, but, exceptions were allowed by UCHealth’s policy for end-of-life situations.

Sarah helped dress Javier in full personal protective equipment, and nurses took him into his dad’s hospital room.

He sat next to his mother, held his dad’s hand and was able to say goodbye.

A short time later, Javier, Sr. died.

While assisting this family has been the toughest mission of Sarah’s 8-year career at UCHealth, she also found it incredibly meaningful.

“My goal in these moments is to show love and compassion. I desperately want to make it better. I wanted Javier’s dad to go home with them,” she said.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t possible. But, Sarah was able to grant Javier a poignant wish.

“Hopefully, they can look back on that day, as terrible as it was, and know that people really loved them and cared for them – everyone from the nurses to the doctors to the respiratory therapists. We loved and cared for his dad until the very end.”