It was on December 26 that Darlene Reynolds, 55, woke up with a scratched tickle in her throat. It was a day before she planned for relatives to come from Canada for a vacation reunion.
“I didn’t have a fever because I kept checking it out, no fever, no fever, no fever. I said, ‘I’ll keep my distance since I have a little cough,'” Reynolds said.
The next day, family members arrived at the party. Soon, he said, people started getting sick.
“So we were sick, but we didn’t know we had COVID. We could have had the flu, but it was scary,” Reynolds said. “We tested ourselves and tested positive. And then my husband tested positive the next day. And then (my daughter) got sick and she tested positive and my son tested positive.”
In all, 18 family members between the ages of 62 and 62 became ill with the virus.
Reynolds’ son and husband, Stephen, ended up in the hospital, where he has spent the past nine days.
“She’s going in the right direction. She’ll need oxygen when she gets home,” Reynolds’ daughter Joy Purdie said.
Meanwhile, Stephen’s business, called Mini Movers, was set aside when his truck crashed and they now have no income.
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Lisa Riggin of J. Riggin Painting saw the story on Facebook and decided to step in.
“The truck has been out of order for a month and they have no income and I don’t want to see them lose their home or business,” said Riggin, who set up Venmo and PayPal accounts on his Facebook to raise money for the family.
“People give, not as much as they would like, but people respond. Last night we had a guy who gave $ 500. He doesn’t even know me or her,” Riggin said.
So far, Riggin has raised $ 4,000 for the Reynolds, who are always grateful for all the help they can get.
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