On Dec. 13, Billy Loredo, a lawyer from Edinburgh, Texas, died from COVID-19 at the age of 45.
But he left his wife of 21 years a bittersweet goodbye — a final love letter.
“He emailed it to me a few days before he was intubated,” Sonya Kypuros, Loredo’s wife, told HuffPost via Facebook, noting that her husband often wrote her romantic notes and brought her “flowers several times a month.”
Kypuros said that she felt “sad and afraid” as she read his words.
“It made me fully aware that he knew he might die,” she said.
“I want you to know that I am fighting very hard every day for my life. I do it for you so that I can see you again,” Loredo’s letter read.
“You are the most important person in my life and I miss you every day. I know I am not always the perfect man I want to be but I do my best,” the message continued. “If I make it through this I promise to be a better man, in God, in life, and as a husband. You have always deserved the best and if I get a second chance I will do it.”
Loredo also heartbreakingly told his wife, “If I don’t make it I want you to know that I lived a happy wonderful life with you and would never have traded it for all the riches in the world. I also want you to be happy and continue to live your life without me and with no regrets.”
“We had our time and it was wonderful. I love you and miss you very much,” the note concluded. “I will keep fighting. Love, Billy.”
“Honestly, I don’t even know what I’m doing,” Kypuros told HuffPost when asked why she decided to publicly share such an intimate note, but ultimately concluded that she wanted “to share with everyone the amazing human being that I had the privilege of being married to.”
“I know I love Bill immensely and he loved me back tremendously,” she added. “So I have been processing this love.”
Last week, Kypuros and her brother-in-law, Dr. Pedro Loredo, a surgeon in Dallas, shared the note with local ABC affiliate WFAA.
According to the outlet, Billy Loredo became infected on Nov. 16. Both his brother and wife believe the attorney got the virus from his secretary who unknowingly had it, thinking her symptoms were allergies.
Loredo advised his secretary to get tested for COVID-19, and her test came back positive.
Loredo always wore a mask when possible, according to his brother. Kypuros told HuffPost that she and her husband were always “precautious” about staying safe during the pandemic, and says that “now I am even more hypervigilant.”
But she also admits she has mixed feelings about the unfortunate timing of her husband’s illness.
“[I’m] angry that that the vaccines didn’t come out sooner to save Billy,” she admitted. “I know I should be happy that the vaccine is now here to help save our lives, but I can’t help to be angry that he didn’t get a chance to save his own life.”
Kypuros said that while Loredo was in the hospital, she prayed for her husband to survive.
“I believed if [God] had let him live then we had a message to serve together about this pandemic and how to educate people to be safe,” she said in a message. “I guess God had bigger plans for Billy, which is why He took his life.”
Kypuros said that her husband, who had no underlying health issues, “touched so many people’s lives.”
“Every one either loved him, admired him, or looked up to him in some way,” Kypuros said. “So maybe God needed Billy for a bigger purpose to influence and have an impact on the world.”
Since COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic in March, more than 18 million infections have been reported in the U.S. Over 324,000 people in the country have died as a result of the virus.
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