NJ family reels after COVID-19 claims lives of 4 members

RIVERSIDE, N.J. - The COVID-19 pandemic continues to take a toll on families across our area. In Riverside, New Jersey, the virus claimed the lives of four family members in one month. 

April Cruice says she is living a nightmare, after her grandmother, her great aunt, her uncle and another aunt died from COVID-19.

"They are all gone. COVID took them from us," she said. "There was no one left to take care of them. There was no one healthy enough." 

One by one family members in two households were sent to the same hospital as their symptoms took a turn for the worse: "At one point they were all in the ICU together and she would hear the coding down the hall and be afraid that it was her mom or her aunt."

Gratitude doesn’t begin to describe what she feels for the staff at Virtual Willingboro Hospital: "And they would be in tears themselves sometimes, both the male and female nurses, just broken by what's happening around them." 

Cruice says her family members weren’t careless, but took care of each other and continued to go to work to put food on the table.

"It's very difficult and there are decisions that we are all being put in that we don’t know what the correct answer is." 

As local restrictions start to ease, she urges everyone to trend with caution.  

"It’s a terrifying perspective when you lose so many people and I wouldn’t wish it on anyone but I would do anything to protect my family." 

To support the family coping with four funerals in one month, here is a link to their Go Fund Me page. 

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