The NBA star is only 25 and he faced the brutal pain of losing many family members, who were important to him, this year.
As COVID19 spread across the world, it tore many families apart, and it continues to do so. in the US, some states and districts are worse hit than others, and people living there have lost multiple family members. One of those people is NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns, who lost seven members of his family in 2020.
The Minnesota Timberwolves star lost his mom Jacqueline in April after she fought the disease for weeks. Towns now added that he has lost six other family members too due to complications from the virus, according to ESPN. The sportsman is only 25 and he's now reflecting on the losses he faced this year before stepping back on to the court.
"It’s hard. I’ve lost a lot of close family members, people who have raised me, people who have gotten me here," he said. "I've seen a lot of coffins in the last seven-eight months," the athlete added. "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."
His concerns are similar to those of many young adults in the country, who just want their family to be well, and are trying to spread more awareness. Towns also has the added responsibility of ensuring that his team does well and he's committed to them. The 25-year-old athlete said that he is giving his 100% to help his team but added that it will "be hard to play" without his mom to cheer him.
"I’ve never been in a mentally good place since that woman went in the hospital. It’s getting harder and harder every day, as I keep losing people the season keeps rolling around," he said. "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. It’s going to be hard to play," he said candidly. "It's going to be difficult to say this is therapy. I don't think this will ever be therapy for me again. But it gives me a chance to relive good memories I had," he added.
Both his parents had the virus and his mom, Jacqueline Cruz, died on April 13. She had been placed in a medically-induced coma and connected to a ventilator since March 25. His father, Karl Sr., has recovered from the virus. The NBA star, who lost his uncle too, to the virus, had shared an emotional video after his mom was first kept in intensive care. He had requested fans to take coronavirus seriously, according to USA Today.
"I just wanted to help people," he said. "It just came from a place that I didn't want people to feel as lonely and upset as I was. I really made that video just to protect others and keep others well-informed, even when I knew it was going to take the most emotionally out of me that I've ever been asked to do,” he added.
The NBA star had also gone out to protest against systemic racism and police brutality earlier this year. He added that his mother had always pushed him to stand for just causes. He said he "knew my mom would’ve wanted me to be there; she would’ve given me the push and motivation to go."
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