Wife Of Danbury Coronavirus Victim Finds Farewell Note In Phone

DANBURY, CT — Jonathan Coelho, 32, died Wednesday after a 28-day battle with the new coronavirus. The Danbury resident spent 20 days on a ventilator.

On March 26, Coelho tested positive for COVID-19 and was admitted into Danbury Hospital for observation due to severe breathing issues, according to an online fundraising campaign mounted before his death.

"Initially, it was thought that he would be hospitalized just over the weekend but due to recent setbacks, he was sent up to the ICU to be sedated and put on a ventilator in hopes of stabilizing him," the fundraiser's organizer posted.

Despite the nearly month-long hospitalization that followed, Coelho's death took his family by surprise as he had been on the mend, his wife Katie posted on Facebook. Doctors had taken her husband off the ventilator about a week prior to his death. But following an early morning phone call from a nurse at Danbury Hospital, Katie arrived there to learn her husband had died from a cardiac arrest caused by complications from the virus.

Although she did not have the opportunity to say goodbye to her husband, her husband said goodbye to her, Katie, 33, told BuzzFeed News.

"I love you guys with all my heart and you've given me the best life I could have ever asked for," Jonathan had written in a note left on his phone. "Katie you are the most beautiful caring nurturing person I’ve ever met... make sure you live life with happiness and that same passion that made me fall in love with you. Seeing you be the best mom to the kids is the greatest thing I’ve ever experienced."

Katie told BuzzFeed she believes the note was written weeks earlier, before her husband was first intubated.

According to his obituary published by Danbury Memorial Home, Coelho's "most cherished accomplishments were his two children Braedyn (age 2) and Penelope (age 10 months). His son Braedyn was born with several medical complexities including cerebral palsy. Jonathan and Katie took such pride in providing Braedyn with therapies 5 times a week and were dedicated to giving him the best services possible."

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In addition to his children and wife and children, Coelho is survived by his parents, Al and Donna Coelho; his sister Diana and brother-in-law Kevin Mallory; his sister Christina Coelho; and grandparents Alberto and Assuncao Coelho.

In an interview with Anderson Cooper on his CNN show Friday night, Katie Coelho described her husband, who worked at the Danbury Courthouse, as someone who "had an amazing way of making everyone feel safe. His smile, his hugs, made you feel really secure."

As of Sunday, the online fundraiser for the Coelho family was just less than $400 shy of its $800,000 goal.

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