Help Katherine navigate life as widowed mom
The COVID-19 Delta variant is ruthless. And it's left a loving young family without their husband, father and provider.
On Monday, July 21, 2021, Will Brooks tested positive for COVID-19. At the time, he'd been experiencing only a few allergy-like symptoms. By Friday of that week, he was admitted to a Houston hospital with a blood oxygen level of 83. Less than a week later, he was in ICU. His wife, Katherine, wrote to friends:
"The hardest thing is, I’m pretty sure if he had heard about the delta variant and how it is affecting people in their 30s and 40s and how communicable it is, he would have gotten vaccinated. But he didn’t get to hear about the delta variant and get a shot because he already had the delta variant. He is the cautionary tale he needed, and I wish more than anything he could have stayed safe just until it hit the news, because then he’d be vaccinated and safe. He's the strongest person I know and he's on life support and dialysis, in a coma, with a chest tube and a ventilator. It could really be any of us."
Will's oxygen saturation kept dropping despite doctors' efforts to increase his ventilator settings. He passed during the wee hours of Aug. 17.
Will leaves behind not only his amazing wife, Katherine, but also their adorable daughter Carter, who hadn't yet even turned 4 months old when her dad went to the hospital.
Katherine is a local teacher who no doubt does wonders for our community. She has used all her PTO during her recent maternity leave, and because she hasn't hit one year at her new school district, she is ineligible for FMLA.
The coming days and months will be incredibly difficult for Katherine, so let's all pitch in and do what we can to reduce her financial worries so she can focus on picking up the pieces and learning to navigate life as a single mother.
Thank you for your support and prayers.
