Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns says 7 family members, including his mother, have died from COVID-19
"I've seen a lot of coffins in the last seven months."
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Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns’ mother, Jacqueline Cruz-Towns, died due to complications with COVID-19 in April.
On Friday, Towns told reporters he has lost six more family members to the pandemic in the ensuing months, adding that he “hasn’t been in a good place” since his mother’s death.
“I’ve seen a lot of coffins in the last seven months,” Towns said, per ESPN’s Malika Andrews. “I have a lot of people who have — in my family and my mom’s family — gotten COVID. I’m the one looking for answers still, trying to find how to keep them healthy. It’s just a lot of responsibility on me to keep my family well-informed and to make all the moves necessary to keep them alive.”
Cruz-Towns was put in a medically induced coma in March. After she died, Towns released a video on YouTube entitled “The Toughest Year of My Life.”
“I think for me, I think if I was to say, ‘How am I coping and how am I healing from this,’ I’m trying to heal myself through others,” Towns said. “I’m trying to do as much as I can for my sister and my father. Trying to take care of my friends, and I’m trying to heal myself through them. It’s helped, but I think that one day, and I know it’s creeping up, I feel it every day, it’s gonna creep up, and I’m going to have to find a way to deal with it, actually.”
The Timberwolves released a statement after Cruz-Towns’ death from a Towns family spokesperson, thanking healthcare workers who helped Towns’ father, Karl Sr., recover from the virus, in addition to those who tried to save Cruz-Towns.
“Jackie was many things to many people — a wife, mother, daughter, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend,” the spokesperson said in the statement. “The matriarch of the Towns family, she was an incredible source of strength; a fiery, caring, and extremely loving person, who touched everyone she met. Her passion was palpable and her energy will never be replaced.”
After Cruz-Towns was placed in a coma, Towns released an emotional video on Instagram imploring his followers to take the virus seriously and follow all recommended precautions.
“A day that she was feeling great, we talked, and she felt she turned the corner, I felt she was turning the corner,” Towns said in the video. “I knew there were more days to come, but I felt that we were heading in the right direction.”
Cruz-Towns’ condition deteriorated quickly, however.
“Send my love to all your families,” Town said, growing emotional in the video. “I’m praying for every single one of you guys. … Life might keep throwing punches at me, but I’m going to keep getting back up, and I ain’t going to quit at any time.”
On Friday, Towns said playing basketball this season won’t be easy.
“It always brought me a smile when I saw my mom at the baseline and in the stands and stuff and having a good time watching me play,” Towns told reporters. “It is going to be hard to play. It’s going to be difficult to say this is therapy. I don’t think [playing basketball] will ever be therapy for me again. But it gives me a chance to relive good memories I had.”
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