A young father died from COVID-19. Then, his wife found an emotional note left on his phone

DANBURY, Conn. (WTHR) - A Connecticut man left an emotional message for his wife and young children before he passed away from coronavirus.

Katie Coelho said her husband, 32-year-old Jonathan, started having breathing issues on March 26. Five days later, he was intubated, sedated and placed on a ventilator.

He died on April 22.

After Jonathan passed, a grieving Katie opened his phone and found a touching message, left by her husband the day before he was intubated. She shared the message in a Facebook post.

"I love you guys with all my heart and you’ve given me the best life I could have ever asked for," Jonathan wrote. "I am so lucky it makes me so proud to be your husband and the father to Braedyn and Penny."

The couple's 2-year-old son, Braedyn, was born with several medical complexities, NBC News reported, including cerebral palsy. Because of their son, the family had been self-isolating at home and taking precautions including social distancing and regular handwashing.

"But it still infected my family," she wrote.

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After telling Katie she was "the most beautiful caring nurturing person I’ve ever met" and telling her to "make sure you live life with happiness and that same passion that made me fall in love with you," Jonathan had a message for his children.

"Let Braedyn [know] he’s my best bud and I’m proud to be his father and for all the amazing things he’s done and continues to do. Let Penelope know she’s a princess and can have whatever she wants in life," he wrote.

"I’m so lucky."

Penelope, just 10 months old, "was a complete Daddy's girl," Katie wrote in Jonathan's obituary.

"Although she is young her world revolved around her dad, and Jonathan savored every moment he had with her. It’s unfair that Jonathan’s time with him family was cut so short. Jonathan only ever wanted to be there for his children and wife and this virus stole that away from him," she wrote.