Coronavirus update: Crete man dies from COVID-19 in Indiana hospital

CRETE, Ill. (WLS) -- A 67-year-old man from Crete, Ill., tested positive for COVID-19 last Thursday and died Sunday morning in an Indiana hospital.

Yousef Allan Quran was a father and a grandfather, originally from Palestine before he settled in Crete. His sister said his last words to her were "Don't worry, I'm going to be OK."

"He'd been loved with everybody that known him," said Dr. Baheia Derweesh, Quran's sister, who spoke to ABC7 Chicago from Palestine. "I'm really sad. It's beyond imagination."

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"I said, just be safe," she recalled of the last time she spoke to him. "We are here for you and I will keep checking on you and that was my last conversation with him."

Quran was a father of four and had several grandchildren. He self-quarantined a week and a half ago after he found out a friend and colleague he was with tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

"Then he started getting some symptoms. He decided to go to the hospital, just to check himself," Derweesh said.

At that time, doctors didn't test him for the virus. His sister said they told him to stay home, but Quran's symptoms got worse, so last Monday his wife took him back to St. Margaret Hospital in Northwest Indiana.

"She said 'My husband's here, I need to know what's going on,' and they said, 'No, you can't be in the hospital. You have to leave immediately,'" said Derweesh.

That was the last time Quran's wife saw him alive. That same day he was put in a medically induced coma, and three days later he tested positive for COVID-19. Friday, his nurse called his family.

"The nurse was really nice enough to tell them that I'm going to have you speak, I'm going to put the phone near his ear and you can just talk to him, because I think this is maybe the last time you'll be able to talk to him," Derweesh said.

He died Sunday morning, just two days later.

"It's very difficult to understand or grasp he's gone. Like, within a week," his sister said. "We thought, he's a fighter. We know he's a fighter. We thought he's going to be OK. He's going to fight this."

Quran's sister said the retired businessman and eldest of 11 siblings was a doting father and grandfather.

"I just want to give advice to everybody, please take care of yourself," she said. "Take this seriously. Quarantine. Don't leave the house unless you have to."

Derweesh said his funeral is planned for Tuesday, but they still don't know how or when they will get his body from Indiana to Illinois to make the proper preparations.