Arnold Herrera passed away on Sunday at UI Health. His relatives said he had no underlying conditions they were aware of, and they remain amazed at how quickly his condition got worse.
Herrera was a helper for whom the sky was indeed the limit.
“A tremendous amount of energy, just … ‘I’m going to do it because I’m going to do it,’ because I can. That ‘I can’ attitude,” said his brother, Pablo Portilla.
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Arnold’s brother said his younger sibling never saw a problem that he was not trying to solve – including in the garage, where he worked on cars for a living.
But on Saturday, Herrera’s giving spirit was taken by COVID-19.
“I kept praying he would get better because I knew he was always, you know, strong,” Portilla said. “It wasn’t in God’s plan.”
Pablo said Arnold was diagnosed last week and recovered at home, but his condition worsened hours after the ringing of the new year.
“He told us ‘Happy New Year’, and unfortunately after us he just had complications all day,” said Portilla. “He was in pain and we took him to the hospital, and that’s that.”
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Arnold played guitar at his church in Little Village and graduated from Benito Juarez High School, where he was active in the junior ROTC program.
His death comes with a warning that his family hopes others will heed.
“It doesn’t discriminate by age. It just happens. And we all have to be careful. We shouldn’t think, ‘Oh yeah, because I’m young, it’s not going to happen to me’ like no,” ”Portilla said.
Arnold Herrera is said to have turned 20 in March. Records show that he is the eleventh person in Illinois under the age of 20 to die from COVID-19.
Pablo Portilla accepts donations in memory of his brother on GoFundMe.
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