Angie & Eugene Hunter pass away four days within each other leaving Johns Creek, Georgia linebacker teen, Justin who is asymptomatic without either parent as he dedicates his senior season to his parents.
A Georgia teen has lost both his parents to the coronavirus within the span of four days. The deaths come despite both mother and father taking daily safety precautions to protect themselves amid the pandemic.
Justin Hunter, a 17-year-old at Johns Creek High School, where he plays football, said he and his parents tested positive for COVID-19 roughly two weeks ago, while he remained asymptomatic.
The teen’s parents, Eugene Hunter, 59, and Angie Hunter, 57, however, began developing debilitating symptoms as the trio quarantined at home outside Atlanta, he told WSB-TV.
‘They became very sick and they had the clear symptoms,’ Hunter told the media outlet. ‘Their temperatures skyrocketed. They had headaches. Horrible cough. They felt very lazy.’
The family called an ambulance as the couple’s condition worsened. Hunter’s father, Eugene, an accomplished musician, died at a hospital days later on July 26, he said.
‘We were a regular family just trying to stay safe during this pandemic,’
Justin’s mother, Angie, a human resources executive, succumbed to the virus Thursday — four days later — at the same hospital. The teen isn’t sure where his parents contracted the virus since they had taken steps to protect themselves, including wearing a face mask in public.
‘We were a regular family just trying to stay safe during this pandemic,’ Justin told WSB-TV. ‘When my mom would go to the store, she would be wearing a mask and she would be wearing gloves.’
The teen, who plays middle linebacker, said he now plans on dedicating his senior season to his parents, who’d been married for 35 years, he said.
‘Since I started playing, we always talked about me playing in college and then playing in the pros,’ Justin said. ‘They would have wanted me to keep going and get a scholarship and get my schoolwork done.’
‘They never raised me to sit around and feel sorry for myself in any situation, and I just gotta keep going and pushing,’ he said. ‘I know they’re happy up there, and that’s what makes me happy.’
The teen said his mother told him she loved him before she died and told him, ‘God has you,’ while his father vowed to keep battling the virus, WSB-TV reports.
‘Basically, last thing he said was, ‘I love you and I’m going to get better and I’m going to keep fighting,’’ Justin recalled. ‘They never raised me to sit around and feel sorry for myself in any situation, and I just gotta keep going and pushing.’
An online fundraiser set up to establish a trust for the teen has eclipsed $318,000 as of Monday evening.
Justin, meanwhile, who remained in quarantine Sunday, said he still feels his parents’ presence.
‘I know they’re watching me from above and they’re gonna be the ones to give me strength to get through this,’ the teen told WXIA. ‘I know they’re with God, so they’re in good hands.’
