‘Community’s biggest fan’ gone at 57
School custodian died complications due to COVID-19
Juan Carlos Sosa has been described as “Juan in a million,” but for his family he is “Juan the one and only.” Whenever someone needed help, there he was, willing to assist, no matter the day or time.
A true sports fan of anything related to the New England Patriots and the Boston Red Sox, his niece said, “he was most importantly his family’s and community’s biggest fan”.
He had one daughter, 17-year-old Jasmin Sosa, but in the community, he would be there whenever a parent couldn’t take their son to baseball practice, or he would provide food for kids who did not have anything to eat at night, his family said.
Now, he will no longer greet students with a big smile when they arrive at Celebration K-8 school and will never be able sing in the car with his daughter. Juan Carlos died on Aug. 30 at age 57. His family believes he was infected with coronavirus after he celebrated his birthday at the school where he was a custodian.
Two other members of the Sosa
family — his sister, Zobeida Sosa, and his niece, Nancy Batista, also tested positive. They recovered but will never get over the sadness of losing a family member to COVID-19.
Zobeida could not hold back her tears remembering her childhood with her brother.
“He promised he was going to take care of me forever. We have been together forever and now he is gone. I will never see him smile; I will never hug him again.”
Growing up in Guatemala, Zobeida recalls how hard they all worked to make it to the United States and live the American dream. They first arrived at Rhode Island and later moved to Florida, where they had been living for the past five years.
“If you can imagine how he was with others, imagine how he was with me, his little sister. You have no idea. When we were little, we were like Pimpinela,” she said, referring to the brother and sister Argentinian duo famous for their romantic songs.
“We used to sing Pimpinela, he taught me to dance. He was my soulmate. 56 years living together, that says everything,” Zobeida said.
“I sometimes still think this is a nightmare. I want to turn back time. I want this not to be true. This can’t be what I am living. I don’t want to suffer like this,”she said trying to wipe away her tears.
When Juan Carlos began feeling sick and had shortness of breath, he started using his sister’s asthma machine, but it didn’t help. He even got tested for COVID-19, according to the family, but did not get results soon enough. He was taken to the hospital and “they had
to put him in a ventilator and he was in a medicallyinduced coma,” his sister said.
“This is real, this coronavirus is real and is affecting our Latinos who don’t have an option but to go to work and risk their lives. Our governor had an option choosing not to reopen schools, not to reopen Florida just because of the economy. Our Hispanics don’t have other option but go out and work. DeSantis had an option, he chose the economy over our people,” said Batista, Juan Carlo’s niece.
The worst part, Batista said, was “being separated from him. Not being able to be next to him in his final days. We were able to go to the hospital at the end, but it was too late.”
Juan Carlos got over the coronavirus, but his lungs were severely damaged.
“No one should have to go through this. This is not a number, this is a human being, a brother, a dad, a husband. We want the community to understand this is not just a statistic, we are suffering, and no one should have to go through this,” Zobeida said.
The family is urging everyone in the community
to “be responsible. If they were responsible, my brother would be here. The person that infected my brother doesn’t know, doesn’t know the huge pain it has caused. Doesn’t know how my heart is broken, my only brother. If someone is sick, don’t go to work, don’t get close to people, get tested. This is not a joke,” Zobeida said.
Luz Sosa, Juan Carlos’ wife, remembers how loved he was both at work and in the community. He belonged to everyone, she said proudly. “Our moments were very special, but he was a borrowed angel God sent us and he took him back in the middle of this pandemic,”, she said.
With a big smile, just like the one Juan Carlos wore daily, Luz remembered how they met online while she was living in Colombia and he was still in Rhode Island. “Our love was meant to be. He traveled to meet me with a fiance visa and the spark was instant. I moved here [to the United States] and got married. Everything was special,” Luz said.
The family has set up a GoFundMe page to assist with the funeral costs and any medical expenses they might have to deal with.