HEADLINE

Towns: Mother in coma with coronavirus symptoms

Field Level Media

March 25, 2020 at 3:54 pm.

Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns is urging fans on social media to protect themselves from the coronavirus after his mother was placed in a medically induced coma as she battles symptoms of COVID-19.

Towns said in an emotional video posted to his Instagram page on Tuesday that both of his parents went to the hospital after feeling ill for a few days.

While his father was discharged to quarantine, the health of his mother, Jacqueline Cruz, “kept getting worse” because her cough and fever weren’t improving. Towns said results aren’t back but it is believed she has the coronavirus.

“She just wasn’t getting better,” the 24-year-old Towns said. “Her fever was never cutting from 103, maybe go down to 101.9 with the meds, and then immediately spike back up during the night. She was very uncomfortable. Her lungs were getting worse, her cough was getting worse. She was deteriorating. She was deteriorating — and we always felt that the next medicine would help. This is the one that’s going to get it done. This mixture is going to get it done.”

Towns said in the video that he hopes his story helps others during the coronavirus pandemic and that “everyone understands the severity of what’s happening in the world right now.”

As of Wednesday morning, more than 440,000 people around the world had been diagnosed with the disease, with more than 19,700 fatalities, according to Johns Hopkins University.