Karl-Anthony Towns has lost his mother to the novel coronavirus. The Timberwolves announced the crushing news Monday afternoon through a Towns family spokesperson, who said Jacqueline Towns died “due to complications as a result of COVID-19.”
“The Towns family is heartbroken by the untimely passing of Jacqueline Towns,” the statement says. “Jackie, as she was affectionally known among family and friends, had been battling the virus for than a month when she succumbed on April 13.”
The statement describes her as a “wife, mother, daughter, grandmother, sister, aunt, and friend,” in addition to being “an incredible source of strength; a fiery, caring, and extremely loving person, who touched everyone she met.”
Towns announced March 24 that his mother was on a ventilator and in a medically induced coma. She deteriorated quickly after fighting a high fever of around 103 degrees before the respiratory disease began impacting her lungs, he announced.
“They said that she went sideways and things had went sideways quick. And her lungs were extremely getting worse, and she was having trouble breathing and they were just explaining to me that she had to be put on a ventilator,” Towns said in his March 24 announcement.
Towns, who donated $100,000 to the Mayo Clinic to help combat the novel coronavirus outbreak, pleaded with everyone to understand the severity of situation in his original message.
“This disease needs to not be taken lightly,” he said. “Please protect your families, your loved ones, your friends, yourself. Practice social distancing. Please don’t be in places with a lot of people; it just heightens your chances of getting this disease and this disease … it’s deadly. It’s deadly. And we’re going to keep fighting on my side, me and my family, we’re going to keep fighting this. We’re going to beat it; we’re going to win.”
Here is the full statement from the Towns family spokesperson, as provided by the Timberwolves.
