'A Very Cruel Way To Say Goodbye': Videographer Shares Heartbreaking Film About Losing His Grandmother To COVID-19 To Warn Others 'How Raw The Situation Is'

EAGLE ROCK (CBSLA) — What started as a way to document a grandmother's final moments, has become a message to others about the coronavirus pandemic and "how raw the situation is."

Eagle Rock resident David Lopez Lopez said his 83-year-old grandmother had contracted coronavirus in the convalescent home where she was getting care for dementia.

Due to social distancing measures, he recorded the FaceTime call his mother Lupe made to her mother Amparo Morales. On April 12, Lupe said her goodbyes on behalf of other family members who couldn't be there.

"This pandemic has changed our lives in so many ways, for my mom, it hit very close to home," said Lopez. "It was a very cruel way to say goodbye to a loved one."

Lopez's grandmother passed away on April 19. As he watched and began to edit the heart-wrenching video he had recorded for relatives, the 32-year-old freelance photographer and videographer realized his family's pain would have a purpose.

"Show some of the family that we have, I have a few friends as well that have been constant deniers of the existence of the pandemic, calling it a hoax, so I just wanted to show how real and how raw the situation is," he is.

Lopez named the short film "Seven Days" — the number of days from his grandmother's COVID-19 diagnosis to death.

He wants people to know that the grief over losing a fun, wise, and loving woman, is immeasurable, especially to his mom.

David said his film is a reminder that people are dying from coronavirus and that we should take it very seriously.

"Even if you don't necessarily know somebody that has died from it or caught it, there are still a lot of people out there that are going through what I went through with my family," Lopez said.

Despite the terrible toll COVID-19 took on his grandma and his family, Lopez and his mom find peace knowing she is no longer suffering.

"I feel that the words that we told her, reached her. She's going to be missed," he said.

With the community and businesses slowly opening up again, Lopez hoes people don't let their guards down.

To watch the film in its entirety here.