ROCKFORD (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- An Elgin grocery store manager and his wife are on ventilators fighting COVID-19, and their family members said they are grateful for the outpouring of support from the community.
Emilio Cuahquentzi, 50, and his wife, Elizabeth, 41, live in Rockford, where their children Paola, 20, and Josue, 23, have been in self-isolation.
According to the Daily Herald, Paola Cuahquentzi said her mother got a cough in mid-March and was diagnosed with acute bronchitis. Her father started getting sick with chills and fever around April 5, and her mother got the same symptoms a few days later. Her mother tested positive April 11 while her father tested positive April 13.
Emilio has been hospitalized since April 18. His wife, Elizabeth, 41, went first to SwedishAmerican Hospital in Rockford three days earlier.
Elizabeth had high blood pressure and her husband was healthy before getting sick with the new coronavirus, the family said.
Emilio is a manager of a Butera Market in Elgin. He immigrated from Mexico and has worked at the Butera at Tyler Creek Plaza in Elgin since it opened in late 2014. The couple, who will celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary next year, met when they both worked at the Butera store at Clock Tower Plaza in Elgin. Elizabeth Cuahquentzi now works part-time as a cashier at Blain's Farm and Fleet in Rockford, the Daily Herald reports.
Butera has been paying Emilio's salary while he's in the hospital. Blain's Farm & Fleet said Elizabeth Cuahquentzi had been on a voluntary leave of absence since April 3.
"We were saddened to learn that she subsequently became ill. Our hearts go out to her and her family," spokeswoman Suzy Ginsburg told the Daily Herald.
A GoFundMe campaign set up to pay for medical expenses has raised more than $6,800 for them. The organizer writing on the site, Elizabeth saw the biggest improvement over the weekend, opening her eyes just days before her 42nd birthday, which is Tuesday. Emilio Cuahquentzi is making slower progress, requiring dialysis and more help from the ventilator.