Irma García, one of the two teachers who died at the Uvalde primary school, had been married for 24 years. Her husband couldn’t bear the pain of her loss and went into cardiac arrest. They had four children
By
Soledad CedroFrom Miami, Florida, United States
Irma and Joe García
Among all the shocking stories known after the Texas massacre that occurred at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, where 19 children and two teachers died, that of Irma and Joe García.
She was a teacher for 23 years at Robb Elementary School. Last fateful May 24, I was in charge of the fourth grade of the school, when Salvador RamosHe entered the school heavily armed and opened fire. She, along with assistant teacher Eva Mireles, tried to protect her students from the bullets. Both teachers died, as well as 19 children.
But Irma, in addition to being a teacher, was the mother of four children and had been Joe’s wife for 24 years. They met in high school and had never been apart. When Irma was killed last Tuesday, Joe went into a state of desperation to the point of fatal cardiac arrest on Thursday, two days later.
Memorial for the victims of the Texas massacre in front of Robb Elementary School
The story was reported across the country. A cousin of Irma, Debra Austin, started a campaign on the site GoFundMe with the aim of collecting 10 thousand dollars to cover the costs of the funeral . No one expected the overwhelming reaction from people.
46,000 people donated to the cause, including philanthropist Bill Pulte, who also encouraged his 3.2 million social media followers to do the same. After Pulte’s Twitter message, within hours, the cause for Irma and her family raised $550,000 in a matter of hours.
Irma García in one of the photos on her social networks
Irma is described on the campaign page as an extraordinary person capable of doing everything for others who died trying to protect her students. Joe is said to have died of a broken heart. Doctors agree he likely suffered from broken heart syndrome, officially known as takotsubo cardiomyopathy, a condition that occurs after extremely stressful situations where bursts of stress hormones are released that do not allow the heart to contract properly.
To date they have collected more than 2.6 million dollars that will go to the family. Irma and Joe had four children, two of whom are still in their teens and two of whom are in their early 20s.
In addition to the fundraising page of Irma García, there are several pages asking for donations for the other fatal victims as well as dozens of children who survived but are injured.