Known as Abuela Cohete — or Grandma Rocket — Carmen Evelia Toro rarely slowed down, until she was infected with the coronavirus and put on a ventilator. Her family, scattered across the U.S. and Colombia, came together online to prepare for the end. nyti.ms/2Su8dP5
Many families like Grandma Rocket’s face excruciating decisions about loved ones whose lives the coronavirus has put in peril. Those choices are all the more wrenching because they often have had to be made from afar for fear of contagion. nyti.ms/2Su8dP5 
As her condition worsened, doctors worried that Grandma Rocket’s lungs wouldn’t respond, and she’d become one of a substantial number of critically ill Covid-19 patients to reach a sort of “Twilight Zone,” where treatments plateau. nyti.ms/2Su8dP5
Three generations of Grandma Rocket’s family held nightly online prayer sessions, each with a different theme: faith, gratitude, patience, mercy, obedience, love, fidelity. It was the only way for many of them to feel connected. nyti.ms/2Su8dP5
When little more could be done, Grandma Rocket’s granddaughter and her granddaughter’s husband were allowed to visit the ICU after the ventilator tube was removed. A hospital social worker held a tablet so that other family members could be present. nyti.ms/2Su8dP5
Read more about how this family prepared to say farewell to their matriarch from @sherifink, a physician and investigative correspondent reporting from the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic. nyti.ms/2Su8dP5
