She was vaccinated the day her fiancé tested positive for COVID. It’s too late for him.

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Jessica Dobriz and her fiancé of nearly three years, Michelle Freddy, wanted her a year off before they rolled up their sleeves for a COVID-19 vaccine. But time was not on their side.

DuPreez and Freedy had been together for over seven years and met as co-workers at the Potawatomi Hotel and Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. DuPreez loved how Freedy “was always able to light up a room when he entered it.”

“His presence was always so positive and bigger than life,” Dobriz told USA TODAY. “It was great to be around.”

Dobriz and Freddy thought they were being careful by waiting to get their shots. Dobriz has never considered herself an anti-extremist.

She said the novelty of the COVID-19 vaccine and the speed at which it was produced made her and Freddie hold off.

“I believe in vaccines; I wholeheartedly believe in this,” Dobriz said. “We just wanted to wait a year to see how everyone reacts.”

While Dobriz and Freddie have postponed getting vaccinated, the couple pursued their travel plans.

About three weeks ago, DuPreez and Freedy, along with their five children, left Las Vegas, Nevada, their home country for a two-day trip to San Diego, California: a little getaway from the desert heat. DuPreez said it was a great time, especially for their kids.

“None of our kids had been to the ocean before, so they loved it and had to ride the rides in Belmont Park,” Dobriz said.

Freddy and three of his five children spend some time at the beach during a trip to San Diego, California.

Freddy returned home with a “severe” sunburn, a red-purple with watery blisters, and a number of symptoms: lack of appetite, insomnia, fever, dizziness, nausea. He stayed home from work the next two days: he couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep and was “hot to the touch.” But Dobrez said there wasn’t much concern because they adjusted those symptoms to Freddy’s sunburn, as they thought he had developed a case of sun poisoning.

Dobriz said Freddy went to the emergency room three days after they returned from San Diego with persistent symptoms. She said that little was said about Freddy’s condition at the time; The doctor who had just seen him told him to drink some Gatorade. Freddy went to work that night.

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However, Dobriz said Freddie continued to feel unwell and called out for illness for the next two days. Freddy visited a different emergency room at the beginning of the following week, where a different conclusion was made about his condition – Freddy had tested positive for COVID-19.

“He panics, and says he doesn’t want to die and doesn’t want to leave his children without a father,” Dobriz said.

Dobrese said Freddie’s young age — he had turned 39 two days before he was diagnosed with COVID-19 — and her relatively good health offered her some reassurance at the time, which she tried to channel encouragement. “I promise we’ll get through this,” she said to Freddy.

Freddy returned home, and doctors advised him to stay hydrated with Pedialyte, rest, and self-isolate.

Jessica Dobrez and Michelle Freddy at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas, Nevada.

But his condition quickly worsened. DuPreez woke up around 3 a.m. the next morning, according to DuPreez’s account of Freedy’s illness on GoFundMe, and told her he couldn’t breathe or stand up straight.

Dobriz took Freddy to the emergency room on his third visit in 96 hours. The level of oxygen in his blood was low, and the hospital staff were surprised that he was even able to walk and talk. Dobriz said Freddie’s scans found pneumonia in both of his lungs.

It was a rapid decline that DuPreez had never seen.

“[I didn’t] I realized when I was dropping him off in the emergency room because he couldn’t breathe that that would be the last time I held his hand while he was awake,” Dobriz said.

Freddy and Dobrys pose for a family photo with Freddy’s mother, Linda, and four of their children: Brayden, Spencer, Corbin, and Tucker.

Although DuPreez was unable to see Freedy after this point, other than bringing clothes and other items for him to the hospital, she said she still felt hopeful, even as the anxiety began to settle.

Dobriz said Freddie was moved to another hospital and then to an intermediate care unit to better meet his care needs. During one of their text conversations, Freddy lamented.

“I should have gotten the damn vaccine,” Freddy wrote, according to a report from FOX5.

After five days in the intermediate care unit and a week after being diagnosed with COVID-19, Dobriz said Freddie was moved to the intensive care unit. She said he was fully intubated and anesthetized within two hours of his arrival.

Dobriz said that that night a nurse told her to “call his next of kin and take all his belongings home.”

Dobriz woke up early the day her fiancé died. She said she was planning to go to work that day and had to drive her kids to her sister’s house across town. But she wanted to visit Freedy in the hospital first.

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“I want to make sure he knows I’m here,” Dobriz said.

When I got to the hospital, I thought there was good news. Freddy was in a new bed and some of his numbers improved.

But soon the oxygen numbers in his blood dropped. Dobriz said the nurse reassured her that this was normal.

Then Freddy’s numbers “regressed” and he no longer had a detectable pulse.

A “swarm of doctors and nurses” rushed inside. Dobriz was immediately taken to the back of the room, where doctors applied compressions to his chest.

After 30 minutes of pressing, Dobriz said a doctor came to her and told her they had to stop — “we did everything we could.”

Brant Graves, one of Freddy’s best friends, usually works late and sleeps during the day. That day he woke up “to a million missed texts and phone calls,” all sharing a tone of sadness: “Oh, that’s so sad” and “Oh, I’m so sorry.”

Graves initially said he did not believe the news of Freddy’s death.

“It was very hard to realize that one of my close friends had just passed away, and I would never see him again,” Graves said.

Graves and Freddy are eating dinner at a restaurant with friends.

Graves is “fully aware” of dealing with the horrific realities of COVID-19. He’s a registered sleep technologist and has spent three months “working alongside nurses every day on the front line dealing with COVID patients and seeing them die left and right and seeing all the tragedy.”

He said he did not know that Freddy was not vaccinated and that the only time they had talked about COVID-19 was in the context of working with pandemic restrictions, such as wearing face masks.

“It’s just a shame that he didn’t get it [the vaccine]Graves said.

Dobriz said she and her oldest child were vaccinated on the same day Freddie tested positive for COVID-19.

Looking at her own experience, Dobrez said that people who are reluctant to receive the vaccine should overcome their doubts and get vaccinated.

“Even if I get a shoulder ache or get a little sick, I’m going to be in a little bit of pain because he’s not here at this point,” Dobriz said.

“I would just implore everyone to get it [the vaccine] Graves said. “If they’re thinking of getting it – get it.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Unvaccinated Las Vegas man dies regretting not getting vaccinated: fiancé

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