Metro Detroit man who lost mother, aunt to COVID-19 reflects on the pandemic

Toson Knight lost two family members last year to COVID.

His mother Angela Knight and his aunt Linda Thomas both died just days apart.

“My aunt went into the hospital and she ends up dying weeks later. My mom went in the hospital and she died two days after we had the viewing for my aunt. It was just a lot during that time. And later on that year I contracted COVID as well. It was a rough year as it impacted my family in ways that you can’t even imagine,” Knight said.

READ: The key factors that determine how year 2 of COVID will go

Knight said a year ago, he was planning a vacation. He didn’t know the heartache and pain he would soon face just months later.

“I remember me and my friends were planning on taking a trip. And we were like, ‘Hey, we’re not going to go there because the COVID cases are really bad over there.’ Nothing could have prepared us for what would happen in a month or so. I could have never imagined what we went through and what the country and what the world went through in just one year,” Knight said.

Knight is a teacher and a founder of Caught Up. It’s a mentoring group in Detroit. He often encourages and supports others.

“I was with my mom when she died and a lot of my kids wanted to come with me. Me and my family are just preparing to do a memorial, because during that time we didn’t want to do anything because it was just too much, like back to back to back,” Knight said.

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