Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns' mother, Jackie Cruz-Towns, died earlier this year after contracting COVID-19. While he has stayed relatively quiet on the topic over the past few months, Towns opened up about his mother's passing on Monday in a YouTube video titled "The Toughest Year Of My Life."
Cruz-Towns was put into a medically-induced coma in mid-March and suffered a stroke as a result of COVID-19. The Towns family then made the decision in April to take her off of a breathing machine that was keeping her alive.
Throughout the grieving process, Towns said he has leaned on friends and family.
"I think for me, I think if I was to say how am I coping and how am I healing from this, I'm trying to heal myself through others," Towns said. "I'm trying to do as much as I can for my sister and my father. Trying to take care of my friends, and I'm trying to heal myself through them. It's helped, but I think that one day, and I know it's creeping up, I feel it every day, it's gonna creep up, and I'm going to have to find a way to deal with it, actually.
"That's why I wanted to do this. I thought this would be therapeutic for me to admit that these things are real and how I feel is real and being able to try to find some normalcy."
Towns revealed in the video that his mother was surrounded by family members in a virtual capacity during her final days. They told family stories and shared laughs together before she died.
"She was sent off with laughter," Towns said.
