YUMA, Ariz. — September was supposed to be a month of celebration for the Dominguez family, but it turned into a month of grief.
On Sept. 17, Luis Heriberto Dominguez was set to retire from Border Patrol after 20 years of service, and on Sept. 29 celebrate his 31-year wedding anniversary.
But six days in between those two dates, he died from complications of COVID-19 after fighting the virus for nearly three months.
“He fought hard, everyday he did, until the end,” said his wife Brenda Dominguez.
She said her husband began experiencing symptoms and tested positive on June 14. Two days later, she also tested positive. Neither were vaccinated.
“About 10 days of being quarantined, he started experiencing more the shortness of breath and fatigue and [was] very tired, so we ended up going to the ER,” Brenda Dominguez said.
The couple was hospitalized at a Yuma hospital.
Their health seemed to be improving until Luis Dominguez coded on July 2.
His wife opted to transfer him to Phoenix and two days later he was admitted to Banner University Hospital. After a short time there, he was placed into a medically induced coma, Brenda Dominguez said.
“He was down for two months,” she said. “They pretty much told me ‘even if you’re husband wakes up, it’s not going to be good, he’s brain and other things are going to be damaged.'”
Brenda Dominguez said his condition improved at times and worsened on other days.
After two months of being in a coma, she said “God was working miracles in his life” because her husband’s cognitive abilities were intact after waking up.
“The doctors were surprised because they said, ‘there’s no way, medically, scientifically that he could still be alive and response like that,'” Brenda Dominguez said.
But on Sept. 23, Luis Dominguez could not fight anymore and died at 51 years old.
His wife and four children were there by his hospital bed when he passed away.
“It was just very peaceful,” Brenda Dominguez said. “My daughter just laid her head on his chest and she wrapped his arms around her and that’s exactly the time that he just passed in that moment.”
She remembers her husband as a loyal, compassionate, caring, and honest man.
Throughout his 20-year career with Border Patrol, Luis Dominguez worked in the Yuma Sector, stationed in Wellton, Arizona.
Brenda Dominguez said that since the day they met when she was 13 and he 16 years old, he told her he wanted to be a Border Patrol Agent.
“Every time he went to work, he would stop at Jack in the Box and buy chicken sandwiches and tacos because he said, ‘if I find someone in the desert, they’re hungry and I want to be able to provide for them something to eat’ and that was the type of man he was,” his wife said. “All the time caring for others.”
The family will hold a private vigil Friday night and on Saturday a funeral procession will take place in Yuma. He will eventually be cremated.
Brenda Dominguez said with part of his ashes, the family plans to plant a tree in their Yuma home’s garden, that Luis built himself.
As the family grieves, they ask that you hold your loved one’s tight and tell them how much you love them.
“I’m going to miss him a lot and my children too. I know that God will give us peace,” she said.
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