After contracting Covid-19 nearly a week before Thanksgiving, a Texas couple of 30 years held hands as they both died on Sunday due to complications from the virus.
What We Know:
- 61-year-old Paul Blackwell and 65-year-old Rosemary Blackwell died within minutes of each other at Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth, Texas, two of their sons told NBC News. “It really took a toll on them pretty quickly,” son Shawn Blackwell said of his parents after they began to experience symptoms.
- Blackwell explains that his mother was having shortness of breath at nighttime and was having difficulty sleeping. His father became lethargic, not moving from the couch for four days. He noted that it caused them to miss Thanksgiving with their children for the first time because of their symptoms and deteriorating health.
- The couple was admitted to the hospital the Friday after Thanksgiving, where they would live out the remainder of their days. The Blackwell’s sons weren’t able to visit their parents in the hospital and relied on video chat to speak with them. In particular, during one call, the father supposedly broke down, saying he didn’t think he was going to make it.
- Shortly after, the couple was transferred to the Intensive Care Unit as their symptoms worsened. “My little brother Shawn got to speak with my mom right before she got intubated, and I was able to speak with my dad right before he got intubated, so it was crazy how that worked out,” Brandon Blackwell said.
- After consulting the doctors, the Blackwell family made the difficult decision to discontinue the parents’ life support. “My dad wasn’t going to make it too much longer, and my mom was right behind him,” Shawn Blackwell said.
- The family says it isn’t sure how the Blackwells contracted the virus, especially since they often took precautions and were fearful of contracting the virus.“You see your parents as superheroes and as the ones that are always there for you, and there’s nothing that’s ever supposed to happen them that’s bad, and we got a real big dose of reality,” Shawn Blackwell said.
Paul and Rosemary Blackwell died while holding each others’ hands, in the physical presence of the rest of their beloved family. An online fundraiser has been set up to help pay for the funeral expenses of the Blackwells.
