MIAMI – Mario Mayorga, Jr., was working as a manager for Roger’s Cleaning Service, a contractor cleaning at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach during the coronavirus pandemic. He died there on Sunday of complications with the coronavirus disease -- only weeks after it killed his parents.
The Coral Park Senior High School graduate who attended Barry University celebrated his 42nd birthday in February. He was hospitalized in March and was in the intensive care unit when the respiratory illness killed his father, Mario Mayorga, Sr., on April 10 and his mother, Esperanza Tapia, on April 19.
His sister, Violeta “Tita” Mayorga, who was also infected with the coronavirus, and his parents had been hospitalized at Kendall Regional Medical Center. His 8-year-old nephew, Christian, was forced to move away from his grandparents, uncle, and mother.
“When they got sick, we all got really scared, but we never expected this outcome,” Mayorga’s cousin Marcela Lastre said.
The Mayorga family is from Masaya, Nicaragua. The former teachers had lived in Miami-Dade County for decades. This year was the couples’ 50th wedding anniversary, but now the family has three funerals. Violeta Mayorga, a single mother who is now unemployed, was released from the hospital and is recovering alone at home.
“There is no hugs. There is no wiping each other tears or holding each other’s hands, so we’re relying on text messages and phone calls to comfort each other,” Lastre said. “Emotionally, it has been very tough on all of us. It has been a long six weeks.”
Lastre set up a Mayorga Family Relief GoFundMe page and Lourdes Perez, a close family friend, set up the Mario Mayorga and Family Passing GoFundMe page to help Violeta Mayorga during the family crisis. An anonymous donor came forward with a donation to cover the cost of the funerals.