Karl-Anthony Towns' mother dies from complications of COVID-19

The young superstar's mother was hospitalized in March and passed away April 13.
Karl-Anthony Towns' mother dies from complications of COVID-19
Karl-Anthony Towns' mother dies from complications of COVID-19 /

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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. 

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Joe Nelson
JOE NELSON

Title: Bring Me The Sports co-owner, editor Email: joe@bringmethenews.com Twitter: @JoeBMTN Education: Southwest Minnesota State University Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota Expertise: All things Minnesota sports Nelson has covered Minnesota sports for two decades, starting his media career in sports radio. He worked at small market Minnesota stations in Marshall and St. Cloud before joining one of the nation's highest-rated sports stations, KFAN-FM 100.3 in the Twin Cities. There, he was the producer of the top-rated mid-morning sports show with Minnesota Vikings announcer Paul Allen.  His radio experience helped blossom a career as a sports writer, joining Minneapolis-based Bring Me The News in 2011.  Nelson and Adam Uren became co-owners of Bring Me The News in 2018 and have since more than tripled the site's traffic and launched Bring Me The Sports in cooperation with the Sports Illustrated/FanNation umbrella. Nelson has covered the Super Bowl and numerous training camps, NFL combines, the MLB All-Star Game and Minnesota playoff games, in addition to the day-to-day happenings on and off the field of play.  Nelson also has extensive knowledge of non-sports subjects, including news and weather. He works closely with Bring Me The News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard to produce a bevy of weather and climate information for Minnesota readers.  Nelson helped launch and manage the Bring Me The News Radio Network, which provided more than 50 radio stations around Minnesota with daily news, sports and weather reports from 2011-17.