January 15, 2025
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Joliet single mom cut short COVID-19 hospital stay to care for kids

I said, ‘I can’t stay. I have four babies at home.'

By DENISE M

“I’ve been sick for three days. I tested positive for covid. I need help. I don’t have any food.” Two days later, an ambulance brought Reyes to the hospital by ambulance. A day and a half later, Reyes, a Joliet single mother, checked herself out, she said.

“I’ve been sick for three days. I tested positive for covid. I need help. I don’t have any food.” Two days later, an ambulance brought Reyes to the hospital by ambulance. A day and a half later, Reyes, a Joliet single mother, checked herself out, she said.

“They wanted to put me on a machine because I couldn’t breathe,” Reyes, who said she has no family in Illinois, said. “They said, ‘You need to stay here for 10 days.' I said, ‘I can’t stay. I have four babies at home. And they still had the virus.’” The Salvation Army had been helping Reyes, a single mother of four children, since October 2019 with groceries and other resources, Faundez said.

Eventually all four of Reyes’ children tested positive for the coronavirus while Reyes was sick. This included 12-year-old Jerry, pictured above.

and 9-year-old twins Henry (pictured)

and Henderson (pictured).

Even 7-year-old Priscila was sick. In addition, Reyes said one of the twins has seizures and had heart surgery in December. So Reyes was especially concerned when many of her co-workers were getting sick with fever and coughing.

Soon Reyes had those symptoms, too, along with terrible body aches. Shortly after she tested positive, her kids had the virus, too.   So Reyes was trying to take care of four children with COVID-19 while she was battling it. “It was really hard,” Reyes said. “I was really, really sick.”

Faundez, who leads the Joliet Salvation Army with her husband Daniel, said the Salvation Army immediately made sure Reyes and her children had plenty of food and medicine. "I had asked another member of our advisory board who has stayed in close contact with her to help," Faundez said. "She's also a single mother and has been able to help her out with birthdays and Christmas and she took it upon herself to go buy her groceries."

Faundez said she realized that not only was Reyes too sick to leave the house for these necessities for her and the kids but she had to stay quarantined because she was sick with COVID-19. "We stayed in constant contact messaging every few hours," Faundez said. Two days after Faundez received the first message from Reyes, Faundez said she “felt in her spirit” Reyes needed immediate help.

Faundez called Reyes and Reyes answered. But Reyes was coughing so relentlessly and so hard, she could not get words out.So Faundez texted Reyes instead. “Can you talk?” Faundez said. “No,” Reyes said she texted back. “I said, ‘I can’t breathe.’ And she told me she would call the ambulance right away.” Faundez said she called Reyes’ kids from outside the house and managed their care in that way while Reyes was in the hospital “fighting for her life.”

“The oldest had a cellphone and could message me,” Faundez said. “We were constantly checking on them, even overnight, and making sure they were safe. ...It’s the Salvation Army’s mission to, you know, get our hands dirty and be there when people have nobody.” Reyes said she wrote down instructions for her eldest son, Jerry, before she left. But Reyes said she was afraid if she stayed in the hospital, she would die. If she was going to die, she would rather die at home, Reyes said. So although Reyes also had bronchitis and pneumonia, she came home. “It was three more weeks before I felt better,” Reyes said.

During Reyes’ recovery Salvation Army continued to help with groceries, as did teachers from Farragut Elementary School in Joliet, where some of Reyes' children attend.

“We had people providing food for her for about two weeks,” Faundez said.

Maureen Krok, a special education teacher at Farragut, said she learned the family was sick when she reached out after Reyes stopped communicating on the school’s app. Krok's first response was, “What can we do to help you?” And Reyes said, “We need food.” Krok then told her, “Make a list.”

Then Krok said she messaged her entire third-grade team to see who could help. Krok asked Reyes to make a list. In addition to food, teachers also sent ready-made meals and over-the-counter fever reducers, Krok said.

Reyes is thankful for all the prayers that went up for her and the kids on social media, she said. Faundez said people all over the world were praying for Reyes and her children. “It’s a miracle she’s alive,” Faundez said. Yet as Reyes recovered, the bills piled up, she said. “I was afraid they’d cut all the utilities at the same time,” she said. But the Salvation Army even helped her find a new job. God has been good to me and my children,” Reyes said. “I am blessed." (All photos)

#People #Faith #CoronavirusJolietJoliet Public Schools District 86single mom with coronavirusCOVID-19 in minoritiesSalvation ArmyMajor Wendy FaundezDenise M. Baran-Unland