SAN ANTONIO – It is clear the country is still in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic as over the summer there has been a recent surge in positive coronavirus cases, many including hospitalizations and deaths.
And yet, 17 months into the pandemic, there are still a lot of people unaware of how dangerous the virus can be.
But a South Side man said he wants to use his story to try and help educate the public.
“We want to try and remember the good times we had at shows, birthdays, July 4, everything on Mother’s Day,” Chase Squires said, trying to remember his mother.
Chase’s mom, Michelle Squires 47, passed away this summer after she and Chase’s family contracted COVID-19.
“When it first came out, I was thinking it’s not real and whatever,” Chase Squires said.
Chase said he didn’t think COVID-19 was a big deal and that he didn’t think he would get it. But now he’s reconsidered after everything he and his family have been through.
" I wouldn’t want it on my worst enemy. It’s something I wouldn’t want anybody to go through,” Squires said.
It all started in August, and it got worse and worse.
" She called me. On Monday, Tuesday, saying that she needed to go and she said that she was having a hard time breathing, saying she was dizzy. She took a while and then that’s when the oxygen level was low and I rushed her to downtown Methodist in Jourdanton,” Squires said.
Squires said it was late night after late night worrying about his mom, not knowing if she would make it.
“They put her on oxygen and then the oxygen wasn’t working. So they had to put her on a ventilator. And ever since, the ventilator just went downhill and then she eventually passed,” Squires said.
Chase is now working with his family to come together and figure out what comes next.
“I want to make my mom proud. How? By achieving what she wanted to achieve. Keep working. Don’t give up. And just go forward, don’t stop,” Squires said.
In the midst of a tragedy like this, the next step is working to figure out how to honor the one you lost. For Chase it was figuring out how to pay for the funeral. But the South Side community came together to help with the expenses.
“Everything’s paid for the funeral. So she’s going to have a proper burial like she would have wanted,” Squires said.
Now Chase wants his story and his family’s story to help others make the right decision.
“So the biggest life lesson I’ve learned through all this is don’t ever think it can’t happen to you because it happens to everybody. And since COVID (the numbers) is getting higher, it’s riskier than what it was the first time,” Squires said.