Towns’ mother fighting COVID-19

Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns, right, said his mother is in the hospital and currently in a medically-induced coma as she battles COVID-19.

Towns made the announcement early Wednesday morning on his Instagram page, saying that his mother, Jacqueline Cruz, gradually got worse to the point that doctors put her on a ventilator and eventually induced the coma as she fights the disease.

“This disease needs not to be taken lightly,” Towns 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. This disease is deadly. We’re going to keep fighting.”

Towns, who came close to crying multiple times in the video, said recently both his mother and father were feeling ill. Both went to the hospital and were tested for coronavirus, but his dad was released and told to quarantine while his mother remained in the hospital.

“She just wasn’t getting better,” Towns said. “Her fever wasn’t cutting from 103. It’d maybe go down to 101.9 with the meds then immediately spike back up during the night. She was very uncomfortable. Her lungs were getting worse, cough was getting worse. She was deteriorating in front of our eyes.”

Towns said he was in communication with his mother daily, and there came a point when it appeared she was finally improving, he said. But then “things went sideways quick.”

Now, Towns, who donated $100,000 to the Mayo Clinic to help it ramp up its coronavirus testing efforts before his mom fell ill, said he is trying to maintain a positive attitude for himself and his family. He wanted to post the video despite his raw emotions to raise awareness of how serious coronavirus could be.

“My mother, she’s the strongest woman I know and I know she’ll beat this,” Towns said. “We’re going to rejoice when she does.”