A couple who had been married for 53 years passed away from the coronavirus just moments apart, holding each other’s hand as they died.
Curtis and Betty Tarpley, high school sweethearts from Fort Worth, were both diagnosed with COVD-19 earlier in the month.
They were 80 and 79-years-old.
The couple got to spend their final moments together at the Texas Health Harris Methodist Hospital in Fort Worth with the help of a medical staff person named Blake, the couple’s son shared.
‘My parents are just normal people, but now the whole world knows their story,’ Tim Tarpley, the couple’s son, explained to CBS DFW.
Betty was first administered to the Fort Worth hospital and was soon followed by her husband.
Moments before she passed, Betty called her son to prepare him for the news.
‘My mom called me and said, “Hey, I just want to let you know, I’m ready to go…” I yelled and screamed, and thought maybe if I talked to her I could inspire her to have one last bit of will to live,’ Tim explained.
Tim Tarpley then called his father, who was on a separate floor from his wife.
‘He said “how’s your mom?” I said “Not good. She may not make it past tomorrow,” and it was like, at that moment knowing that my mom was going to go, it was okay for him to go,’ the son added.
He described that the medical employee helped make the final moments for the couple, somewhat peaceful.
‘It was some doctor or nurse named Blake… that’s all we knew about it him,’ TIm Tarpley said.
‘He really went out of his way to get my mom moved from her room to his room. And then they just placed their hands, near each other, and next thing we know they grabbed each other’s hands. And that’s how they went.’
The son saluted all those who were working during the challenging time.
‘There’s still so many, you know, unseen heroes that like to help facilitate their ending,’ he said.
Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday said Texas would halt its aggressive reopening as it deals with a surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizations that has made the state a virus hot spot.
Statewide, the number of COVID-19 patients has more than doubled in two weeks.