It was on December 26 that Darlene Reynolds, 55, woke up with an itchy throat. That was the day before she planned for some relatives to come from Canada for a holiday.
“I didn’t have a fever because I kept checking – no fever, no fever, no fever. I said, ‘I’m going to keep my distance, since I have a little cough,'” said Reynolds.
The next day, family members arrived for the party. Soon, she said, people started to get sick.
“So we were sick, but we didn’t know we had COVID. We could have had the flu, but it was scary,” said Reynolds. “We did the test and the test was positive. And then my husband tested positive the next day. And then (my daughter) was getting sick and she tested positive and my son tested positive.”
In all, 18 family members aged between one and 62 years fell ill with the virus.
Reynolds’ son and husband, Stephen, ended up in the hospital, where he spent the last nine days.
“He’s going in the right direction. He’ll need oxygen when he gets home,” said Reynolds’ daughter, Joy Purdie.
Meanwhile, Stephen’s business, called Mini Movers, was removed when his truck broke down and now they have no income.
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Lisa Riggin of J. Riggin Painting saw the story on Facebook and decided to intervene.
“The truck has been out for a month and they have no income and I just don’t want them to lose their home or business,” said Riggin, who set up Venmo and PayPal accounts on his Facebook to raise money for the family.
“People are donating, not as much as I would like, but people are responding. We had a guy last night who donated $ 500. He doesn’t even know me,” said Riggin.
So far, Riggin has raised $ 4,000 for the Reynolds, who are always grateful for all the help they can get.
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