Patty Trejo’s husband has been battling COVID-19 and on a ventilator at a Fullerton hospital since Feb. 4 so on Monday she tried to soothe him the best way she knows how — through his love of mariachi music.
Due to strict COVID-19 safety protocols at St. Jude Medical Center and hospitals statewide, the mariachi band stood outside and were video recorded on a cellphone. Inside the hospital, nurses held up a cell phone at 53-year-old Joe Trejo’s bedside so he could hear the sounds of the mariachi serenade.
Patty Trejo said she talked to her husband, who she has been with for more than 38 years, while his favorite music played, and then she saw him open his eyes and move.
“And I know people say that they can’t hear you, but I know he can. I know he can,” an emotional Patty Trejo told KTLA. “I started to pray even harder and then he opened his eyes again. So I know he heard me and I know he heard the music.”
Joe Trejo is in a medically-induced coma and has been hospitalized at St. Jude Medical Center in Fullerton for 30 days. He was put on a ventilator on Feb. 4. On Monday, his wife said she was able to put her arms around him, touch his hand and give him a kiss, hoping those gestures coupled with the mariachi music will help lift his spirits.
In the meantime, Joe Trejo’s family is asking for prayers so he can make it back home to them soon.
“Our life stopped, you know. Without my dad, my dad’s my … I don’t know. I don’t know life without my dad. I’ve never been away from him for this long, a month, a whole month … it’s hard,” Chris Trejo said about his father.
COVID-19 has had a tight grip on The Trejo Family. Along with Joe Trejo, his wife Patty and their son tested positive for coronavirus, and another one of their sons had a serious case of it. Patty Trejo’s 95-year-old father also passed away earlier this month from COVID-19 after battling the virus for about a week.