A 17-year-old son took his own life after he felt guilty he may have exposed his own dad to Covid, which took his life, his mother has said.
Stephanie Reyes said her son, Anthony, had held himself responsible after his dad died of Covid, because he had insisted the family go to his school for a pep rally.
In August last year, the entire family contracted Covid, and one month later dad Anthony, 46, died due to complications arising from the virus.
The 37-year-old mum told Fox station KTTV how within “a matter of days” after contracting Covid, her husband had been lost and her son blamed himself.
She said: “He felt guilty. He felt like he was the one who got us sick.
“He felt like he was the reason why his dad was gone and we talked to him all the time, and told him ‘It wasn’t your fault,’”
She added her son, who had struggled with depression throughout the pandemic, found it difficult to process his father’s illness and sudden death.
In 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic Anthony Jr had written how he had struggled with the isolation after schools shut.
He wrote in an essay in August 2020 how it caused him “depression” at the time but he got better.
Before his father died, two family members were able to go and visit him and Anthony Jr was one of them.
Stephanie said: “My son wanted to go see his dad [and] against my better judgment, I let him go. It was the worst mistake I did.”
On 28 December, when she found his bedroom light still on at 4am, Ms Reyes found that her son had ended his life.
"I knock on the door to his room, and I'm like, 'Hey, kid, it's 4 in the morning, what are you doing?'”
Stephanie, along with her two other children, both daughter aged 15 and 18, were left in shock and reeling from the events.
Stephanie said that in the immediate aftermath of losing her husband, they tried to get counselling for her son, but counsellors were booked out for months.
The family has now found a counsellor and are getting therapy once a week to cope with their losses.
A GoFundMe page has been created to help the family with the costs of a funeral service scheduled for 22 January.
It has raised nearly $14,000 to cover funeral costs and on the page wrote: "Anthony Jr was the happiest kid ever and had the most contagious smile and laugh that would brighten anyone's day.
"We are absolutely devastated by the sudden loss of Papi [Anthony Jr.'s nickname].
“He was a Son, a brother, a grandson, a cousin, and most of all a friend, and to all of us, he was family."
Stephanie has said she hopes that by sharing her son’s story, it will help other families going through similar things.
The Samaritans is available 24/7 if you need to talk. You can contact them for free by calling 116 123, email jo@samaritans.org or head to the website to find your nearest branch. You matter.
