BAY COUNTY, Fla. (NewsNation) — A Florida family is mourning the loss of a loved one who passed away from coronavirus but are holding onto the final message he left behind on his cell phone.
David Emory, 53, was taken to Gulf Coast Regional Medical Center after showing symptoms for COVID-19 on July 11.
“He was discharged from Gulf Coast Hospital and they said that he was fine, they sent him home with an oxygen concentrator,” said his wife, Paisley Emory. “Three hours later, from the knees down he was blue. I had to call an ambulance to come and get him so his last words to me were, ‘am I going to die and I love you’. And that’s the last time I ever spoke to him.”
David Emory was then put on a ventilator at a hospital for a month before he passed away.
After he passed away, Paisley Emory found a video David made on July 13. He warned people who weren’t taking the virus seriously.
“Please please people take this seriously because it is no joke,” he said in the video. “I can’t stress that enough. Please protect yourselves, otherwise, this is going to get very very ugly.”
He said he was hesitant to wear a mask, especially since his family didn’t know anyone with the virus, but he said that changed very quickly.
“I hope that it will help somebody to protect themselves and not end up in the situation that my family has,” said his wife.
Paisley Emory said that she hopes the pain her family can go through can help save someone else.
“Please try and protect yourselves, be safe. That’s all, that was his message, he wanted to help save one life, if we can help save one life then sharing his video and our pain is absolutely worth it,” she said.
NewsNation affiliate WMBB contributed to this report.