Jacqueline Towns, the mother of Minnesota Timberwolves center Karl-Anthony Towns, died on Monday due to complications caused by the coronavirus, a family spokesperson announced through the team.

“Jackie was many things to many people — a wife, mother, daughter, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend,” the spokesperson said via Timberwolves.com. “The matriarch of the Towns family, she was an incredible source of strength; a fiery, caring and extremely loving person, who touched everyone she met. Her passion was palpable and her energy will never be replaced.

“The Towns family is extremely grateful for the outpouring of love and support they have received during this very difficult time. They would like to thank the medical warriors at Penn Presbyterian Medical Center and JFK Medical Center, who fought for Jackie day in and day out, and helped Karl Sr. recover from the same virus that took Jackie’s life.”

On March 25, Karl-Anthony Towns said his mother was hospitalized, on a ventilator and in a medically-induced coma after contracting what he believed was the new coronavirus.

Towns talked about the condition of his mother on a video posted to YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. He urged his followers to take COVID-19 seriously and practice social distancing.

“This disease … it’s deadly,” he said. “We’re going to keep fighting this. We’re going to beat it, we’re going to win. I hope my story helps. I hope my story gives you the correct information.”

Towns said both his parents went to the hospital recently and were tested for the disease.

While his father was released and told to quarantine at home, his mother’s condition deteriorated to the point where she was put on a ventilator and placed in a coma.

“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.”

The Associated Press contributed to this story

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