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SALT LAKE CITY — “She really was our number one fan,” Robert Moody said.
He, along with his brothers Rick and Roger Moody, remembered their mother’s unwavering support.
“She cared about everything in my life,” he said.
Carol Moody was a wife, a mother and a grandmother, and she loved being all three.
“She was just always there; present,” he said. “She was all about being on my side for things. Always a listening ear for everything.”
It was May 5 when Carol first started showing symptoms of COVID-19. Two days later, she went to the doctor, only to instead be admitted to the hospital with dangerously low blood oxygen levels.
She would never see her family members in person again.
“It was pretty shocking,” Rick said.
Robert said the entire family felt blindsided.
“All of a sudden this thing you’ve read about is in our family,” he said.
Following Carol’s diagnosis, her husband John, son Roger and his wife Hilary, son Robert and his husband Glen all came down with COVID-19. John was admitted to the hospital as well. Both were given convalescent plasma from others who had beaten the disease. For John, it was a lifesaver.
“I have to believe that that’s what turned the corner for me,” he said. “Unfortunately, it didn’t do it for Carol.”
After nearly two weeks in the hospital, doctors told John his wife was unlikely to improve. He and Carol made the decision together to terminate her care. John, still hospitalized, said goodbye to his wife of nearly 50 years over the phone. He later learned she had left a note for him.
“She said, ‘I’ll be waiting for you.’”
Carol Moody passed away on May 21. She was 71 years old.
“She was quick to laugh,” John said. “She was always supportive of the boys, always supportive of people around her. She was a strong advocate of equality.”
She was also an advocate of kindness.
“That’s what Carol fought for. Let’s just love better. Let’s be kinder to one another. Less judgmental and all that goes with it,” John said.
“I wish people would take it seriously,” son Roger said.
The Moody family wasn’t sure where Carol was exposed to the virus. John said the couple took precautions and didn’t even go to the grocery store.
More than a month after her death, the rest of the family has mostly recovered. John remains on oxygen at home. They want others to hear their story.
“When you see on the news, ‘We’ve had this many deaths’, I go, ‘Yeah, one of those is Carol,’” John said.
As Utah’s COVID-19 death toll continues to rise, so does the number of families who have to deal with a devastating loss in the middle of a worldwide pandemic. While health officials cannot list their names, KSL wants to make sure we remember each number as a person with a story and a family left behind.
KSL and our partners at KSL.com, KSL Newsradio and the Deseret News are honored to share their stories as we come together as a state to remember the Utahns we’ve lost.
If you’ve lost a loved one to COVID-19 and would like to help us pay tribute to them, email us at COVID@ksl.com.
