LYNN — Kiumy Nevarez thought she had felt the worst heartbreak when her father died from COVID-19 in June, but when she traveled to Puerto Rico to say her final goodbye, she learned that her mother wouldn’t be far behind.
“I had to hide the pain from losing my dad so I could take care of my mom,” said Nevarez, who lives in Lynn. “I had to have the biggest smile on my face even though I was heartbroken.”
Her father, Genaro Candelario, died from the coronavirus on June 3 at 66. Just three months later, on September 19, Candelario’s birthday, Nevarez’s mother, Maria Maldonado, died at 77.
While Maldonado did not have the virus, Nevarez said that when she arrived in Puerto Rico, she learned her mother was severely malnourished, weighing just 84 pounds, and sick with Alzheimer’s disease. She had not been receiving the care she needed. Nevarez blames the pandemic for the loss.
Despite being told her mother did not recognize anybody around her, when Nevarez arrived for her father’s funeral, Maldonado knew her daughter immediately, kissing and hugging her.
Maldonado flew to Boston in August to meet her three young grandchildren, Nevarez’s children. Three weeks later, she died with her daughter right next to her.
“I never left her side. I promised her that,” Nevarez said. “Like she said when I was little, I was her miracle of life, and I gave her a little more.”
