Editor’s note: To protect the identities of the deceased and his family, 980 CFPL has used alternative names for Amber and Josh.
A phone call woke Amber* up at 3 a.m. on Wed. May 26, 2021.It was from the hospital where her 24-year-old brother had been staying, battling COVID-19 in the ICU since late April.
Amber picked up the phone.“My heart was racing and I felt that I was going to die,” Amber told 980 CFPL, her voice shaking.A hospital staff said her brother had died.“I was in denial and I still am.
I still don’t believe that he’s passed, and then I click into reality,” she said. “But then sometimes, I think, ‘He’s going to walk through the door any second now.