Father of five dies after texting fiancee: 'I should have gotten the damn vaccine'

A 39-year-old father of five from Las Vegas has died from complications of COVID-19 after sending a text to his fiancee from the hospital saying, "I should have gotten the damn vaccine."

According to Jessica DuPreez, she and her fiance Michael Freedy, a Las Vegas casino worker, "wanted to wait just one year from the release (of the vaccine) to see what effects people had, but there was never any intention not to get it."

"That is a decision she said she will always regret," according to Las Vegas' Fox affiliate.

A tearful DuPreez told the station that during a recent vacation to San Diego, Freedy got a severe sunburn. After they got back, he went to the emergency room with nausea and chills, thinking he might have sun poisoning, but he tested positive for COVID.

Freedy was sent home and told to isolate. A few days later, he woke up in the middle of the night, unable to breathe or walk.

He was admitted to the hospital with double pneumonia, and later placed on a ventilator.

"I just kept telling him you're going to get through this, you've got to come home to us," DuPreez said of their last conversation. "I was like please keep fighting, don't give. He was like, I'm trying to fight, but they're going to intubate me and put me under."

Freedy also texted DuPreez saying, "I should have gotten the damn vaccine."

"He is only 39. Our babies now don't have a dad," DuPreez said of their children ages 17, 10, 7, 6 and 17 months. "You can't say I am young and it won't affect me because it will."

In an online fundraiser for the family, she added: "The love of my life, my rock, my everything. The father to my babies, is no longer with us. I don't know what to do."

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