‘Do not take any chances’
Ferrari family asks people to be wary of the ‘evil virus’
Ronaldo Ferrari was 42 and healthy when COVID-19 claimed him April 17 at Hartford Hospital. And now his family is asking that his death be a warning to people to take the coronavirus seriously.
His wife, Cristina De Souza, said she begged her husband to be careful as he made his rounds overseeing operations for the family’s commercial cleaning business.
“I’m not going to get this disease,” his wife said he told her. “I disinfect my hands any time I go in the car. I know I’m not going to get this disease. I’m a strong, healthy guy.”
Along with precautions he took at work, Ferrari would strip off his clothing and get in the shower as soon as he got home.
Still, his wife was worried. “Baby, try to go out less,” she told him. “Let it go a little bit. Stay home more. I’m scared.”
While her husband worked, De Souza obsessively cleaned their Berlin house. She cleaned the doorknobs and other places with bleach. She cleaned and cleaned.
One day he came home from work and sat on the couch. “Go in the shower right now,” she told him.
“You’re paranoid, drama queen,” he responded. “I don’t touch anything. I just talk to people.”
And then De Souza began to feel sick. She had a headache and nausea, but no dry cough. She soon developed a fever.
And then her husband became ill. He had aches and intestinal issues, she said. “After the third day he had a fever and his body started to hurt,” she said.
“I said, ‘I’m sure you got this,’ ” she said. “’I have a feeling.’ ” Ferrari’s 17-yearold son Eloi became ill, too.
De Souza called the family doctor. Without respiratory problems, she said she was told, they did not qualify to be tested. “They said drink water and stay home,” she said.
For seven days the family used over-the-counter medications to treat their symptoms. De Souza and Eloi felt a little better. But not Ferrari.
He then began to develop a fever. It eventually crept up to 104.
De Souza said she called the doctor and was told to just stay home. On the seventh day Ferrari was sick, he woke up with a dry cough. At first he coughed a little bit, she said, and then it got worse.
“And then he started having difficulty breathing,” she said. She took him to the Hospital of Central Connecticut in New Britain. He waited a while to be treated, but was eventually given oxygen, she said.
On the ninth day, hospital staff intubated Ferrari and put him on a ventilator. His lungs became so inflamed, his wife said the doctors told her, that they were not absorbing the oxygen the ventilator was pumping in. She said she was told, “they feel like they are drowning just with air.”
De Souza said her husband was a young, healthy man who did not smoke and had no preexisting conditions, yet COVID-19 was wreaking havoc on his body.
“This virus is evil,” she said.
Ferrari was transferred to Hartford Hospital and placed on an ECMO machine, which temporarily takes over the work of the heart and lungs. The machine put oxygen into Ferrari’s blood so that his damaged lungs might rest and heal.
“I was happy,” De Souza said. “The transfer was successful. I cry a lot. I pray a lot.”
The initial response was good, and then two days later there was a complication. A blood clot went into Ferrari’s brain.
“They was doing everything to save his life,” De Souza said. “Unfortunately the ECMO machine, like everything, has complications. One of those complications is blood clots.”
The man who was angry that his wife was taking him to the hospital, who insisted he was a healthy guy and did not need hospitalization, was now gone.
DeSouza said she is grateful for all that the doctors and nurses did for her husband. “They did a wonderful job,” she said.
Her young, healthy husband, who came to America from Brazil 21 years ago and worked hard to build a life, was taken by the virus. “We had a lot of dreams,” she said. “We bought this house. We just bought a second house.”
In his obituary, Ferrari’s family asked people to be careful.
“Ronaldo was a young healthy guy who took care of himself throughout this pandemic but unfortunately, succumbed to the illness,” the obituary reads. “Ronaldo and his family would like for the public to please wear masks and practice social distancing. It could save your life. Do not take any chances.”
De Souza said she sees too many not taking the virus seriously and she worries for them and their families.
“It’s so hard for healthy men,” she said. “Just like Ronaldo, they think it’s not going to happen to me. They think it’s going to be a little cold. Men need to understand. They need to take care of themselves. Stay home.”
The Courant is working to highlight the lives of those lost to COVID-19. If you have lost a loved one, please contact David Owens at dowens@courant.com.