WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — NBA star center Karl-Anthony Towns revealed in an Instagram video Wednesday that his mother has been hospitalized for a week and is in a coma with what he thinks is coronavirus.
The 24-year-old Dominican-American, the top pick of the 2015 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, said his mother had to be placed in a medically induced coma and has been put on a ventilator.
“It’s important that everyone understands the severity of what’s happening in the world right now with the coronavirus, and I think where my life is right now could help, so I decided to do this video,” Towns said in his early morning post.
“My sister told her she needs to get checked for corona. I don’t think anyone really understood what it was, with deteriorating condition. She kept getting worse…and the hospital was doing everything they can.”
Towns, pausing several times to gather himself, said his mother’s temperature would hover near 103 degrees, dipping slightly only to spike again as she deteriorated.
“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,” he said.
“She was feeling great. We talked and she felt she turned the corner. I felt she was turning the corner.
“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 his father was released from a hospital and self-quarantined as the family awaits results of his coronavirus test.
Towns said he is confident his mother will recover.
“It’s rough, and day by day we’re just seeing how it goes,” he said. “I’m being very positive. So I’m just keeping the strength up for everybody and my family.”
It was his family that prompted Towns to go public with his situation.
“(They) told me to make this video so that people understand that the severity of this disease is real,” Towns said.
“This disease needs to not be taken lightly. 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.
“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.”
© Agence France-Presse