NBA star Karl-Anthony Towns’ mother passes away from COVID-19

In March, Jacqueline Cruz Towns was hospitalized in intensive care and placed in a medically induced coma

Apr 13, 2020

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The Minnesota Timberwolves announced Monday that the mother for their star Karl-Anthony Towns died after a month-long battle with COVID-19.

The sad news of the passing of Jacqueline Cruz Towns was posted to social media Monday.

“Jackie, as she was affectionately known among family and friends, had been battling the virus for more than a month when she succumbed on April 13th. Jackie was many things to many people—a wife, mother, daughter, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend. 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.”

pic.twitter.com/vnKwFBNegn

— Minnesota Timberwolves (@Timberwolves) April 13, 2020

Stumbled on this video of Karl-Anthony Towns and his mom when he committed to Kentucky and now I'm sobbing pic.twitter.com/Rtb3Eqwxhg

— Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) April 13, 2020

In March, she was hospitalized in intensive care and placed in a medically induced coma. She was also on a ventilator after experiencing coronavirus symptoms. She had a fever of 103 that would not subside.

Karl-Anthony Towns Sr., was also diagnosed with the virus but was ultimately able to recover.

The NBA player asked for prayers and that people take the virus seriously at the time his parents first became sick.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Karl-Anthony Towns (@karltowns)

“This disease needs to not be taken lightly,” Towns spoke Instagram video following his mother’s diagnosis.

“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.”

Towns also announced a $100,000 donation to the Mayo Clinic that would go towards research into fighting the COVID-19 health pandemic.

Our heartfelt condolences go out to the Towns family and their loved ones.