SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Richard Eck says his wife Marie caught COVID-19 sometime in late December and by early January was still not feeling well.
"When I took her to the doctor she walked into the hospital, it was just an upset stomach," said Eck.
But he says she developed respiratory issues and things just went downhill from there.
"She developed all kinds of subsequent illness and eventually died from a heart attack, she had two heart attacks while she was being treated," Eck told ABC 10news.
Now he's planning services for his partner of 40 years.
Marie was 61-years-old when she passed, leaving behind Richard, five children, and 13 grandchildren.
"Everybody loved her, she was a perfect wife, a perfect mother, and a perfect grandmother," Eck said.
The Ecks are one of the thousands of families that have lost loved ones during the latest omicron surge.
Doctors say the death rates we're seeing now are directly connected to the spike in mid-January.
It usually takes several weeks between when someone enters the hospital and they pass away.
In San Diego county the death rate for not fully vaccinated people is four times higher than those who are fully vaccinated.
Although Eck says he was vaccinated and boosted, his wife was not but was extremely cautious and worried about catching COVID.
He says ultimately she recovered from COVID, but her body couldn't bounce back from all the other complications that came after.
The Eck family has set up a GoFundMe to help pay for Marie's unexpected funeral expenses.