Last night, Minnesota Timberwolves player Karl-Anthony Towns took to his Instagram to share a video stressing the importance of taking Coronavirus precautions seriously, opting to share his own story in the process. "WE CAN BEAT THIS, BUT THIS IS SERIOUS AND WE NEED TO TAKE EVERY PRECAUTION," he wrote in the IG caption.
The 24-year old NBA player revealed to his 2.8 million followers that his mother is currently in a medically-induced coma due to COVID-19. "I think it's important that everyone understands the severity of what's happening in the world right now, with this Coronavirus," he says at the outset of the video clip, in which he looks visibly rattled. He reveals that last week both of his parents fell ill, and he urged them to go to the hospital and get tested for Coronavirus. He goes on to explain how his father was sent home to self-isolate, while his mother could not leave, her condition continued to deteriorate. Her fever remained high, her lungs and cough were getting worse, meanwhile medical professionals were doing all they could. Although there was at one point a glimmer of hope that she was improving, things went "sideways." Eventually they had to put her on a ventilator, Towns explains, clearly upset. "It came to a point where...It's been difficult. It's been very difficult for me and my family to say the least. She's the head of our household, she's the boss. She's been in a medically-induced coma," he confirms.
He ends the video by reminding us all what we already know and what we already should all be doing: social distancing, and on an optimistic note he tells us that we will beat this, and we will win. Check it out below.
We're sending our best wishes to Karl-Anthony Towns and his family during this immensely difficult time.