LIJ nurse organizes surprise for mother

Catherine Naranjo, 24, a nurse at LIJ Valley Stream said she smiled with tears streaming down her face. On Saturday, her coworkers drove past her mother’s house in Garden City South to celebrate her safe return home after nearly succumbing to the coronavirus.
Catherine’s mother, Luz Naranjo, 61, also a nurse at LIJ, had been placed on a ventilator, but on Saturday, she said she was overwhelmed with joy, sobbing as their colleagues cheered and waved from inside their cars.
“The whole time I was sick, I never stopped praying,” she said. “At one point, I thought if it’s my time to die it will happen, but I guess I still have a job to do on this earth because I still keep waking up every morning.”
Her daughter had planned the drive by parade after Luz, a nurse case manager at LIJ, had contracted the virus from her. While Catherine had relatively mild case, her mother spent weeks in the hospital.
“I contracted the virus first and the worst part was knowing that my mom got sick after me because people at work were saying ‘be careful not to bring this home to your parents,’ and that’s exactly what I did,” she said. “It was a nightmare that I wouldn’t wish on anybody because parents are the people who help you the most.”

Luz said that after more than a month of isolation, and a near-death experience, being able to see her colleagues and family members, even from afar, was a blessing.
“It was very hard not seeing my family for four weeks, while I was sick, so it was amazing experiencing the surprise of the drive by,” Luz said. “It was also nice seeing all my friends that I haven’t seen for a while.”  
The parade, “Really boosted my mother’s spirit,” her daughter said. “We wanted to do something special for her . . . The drive by was so heart warming because it was so much love that hit us all at once.”