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Father And Son Doctors Die Of Coronavirus After Treating COVID-19 Patients On Florida Front Lines

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Mahmoud Abudeif, Aug 17, 2020.

  1. Mahmoud Abudeif

    Mahmoud Abudeif Golden Member

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    A Florida father and son, both doctors, served on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. They perished within five weeks of each other from the very disease they were selflessly treating.

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    Dr. Jorge A. Vallejo, 89, a retired obstetrician and gynecologist, and his 57-year-old son, Dr. Carlos Francisco Vallejo, who was caring for up to 76 COVID-19 patients, were both hospitalized on Father’s Day, the Miami Herald reported.

    Jorge Vallejo died six days later, on June 27. Carlos Vallejo hung on for 42 days in intensive care before succumbing to the illness, dying on Aug. 1.

    The two came from a family dedicated to medicine — 20 doctors, dentists and medical students, reported WFOR-TV.

    “Just like firefighters put their life on the line, we do the same going into hospitals,” Charlie Vallejo Jr., who is doing his residency in internal medicine, told WFOR. “It’s whatever you can do to heal and save your patients.”

    Carlos Vallejo’s son Kevin, 23, feels keenly the loss of his father, who suspected he got COVID-19 from one of his patients.

    “He was just my role model. I could talk to him every day for hours,” Kevin Vallejo told the Miami Herald, recounting how, when patients were going through a rough patch, he would see them for free.

    “He really was a hero to so many people. I didn’t even want him to go to the nursing home and the hospitals because I was terrified,” Gisselle Vallejo, Carlos Vallejo’s 31-year-old daughter, told the Miami Herald. “He wanted to be loyal. It was like he was available for them 24/7. He really was the true definition of a hero. I knew that when COVID started, that he was going to be a hero.”

    The loss was especially poignant at WFOR because the Vallejos were the grandfather and uncle of reporter Jessica Vallejo, the station reported. Her parents, too, are doctors, and both got and recovered from coronavirus.

    It has changed her reporting, she told WFOR.

    “It’s not just statistics, it’s a life, it affects a family,” Jessica Vallejo said. “So when I’m reporting I remember that, because it feels like my family is broken.”

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