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A Big Apple news anchor said his dad died from COVID-19 “with a stranger holding his hand” — as quarantining relatives could only listen on the phone.
In an emotional Instagram message posted Monday, NBC New York anchor Adam Kuperstein detailed the loss of his 70-year-old father, Isaiah Kuperstein, as relatives were forced to “stay inside home, all alone” as he succumbed to the coronavirus while connected to a ventilator at an Indianapolis hospital.
“All we could do was listen on the phone (from our separate quarantines), choking back tears, as the nurse informed us, ‘his heart stopped,’” Kuperstein wrote. “That’s when our hearts broke.”
Kuperstein’s father had been unable to see his sons or his wife of 43 years, Elana, who has also tested positive for the coronavirus, according to the weekend news anchor.
“Only minor symptoms thankfully, but at a time where she needed someone to comfort her, she was alone,” the post continued. “It’s the cruelest part of this nightmare. She deserves better. He deserved better.”
Kuperstein said his father, the son of Holocaust survivors, came to the United States “with nothing” but achieved “so much” in his lifetime. He referred to him only as “Aba,” Hebrew for father.
“He made sacrifices for his family and taught his boys how to become gentlemen, never asking for anything in return,” Kuperstein wrote. “Just love. So please pay tribute to my dad by protecting your loved ones and yourself as the coronavirus crisis grows.”
Kuperstein also warned others not to downplay or overlook potential COVID-19 symptoms, saying his father’s fight with the bug began as digestive issues.
“My mom mainly lost her sense of taste and smell,” Kuperstein wrote. “And please send as much love as possible to the heroic health care workers trying to save us. My family never got to meet the nurses and doctors who cared for my Aba. But I know they did everything they could, even though it meant putting their own lives at risk.”
Kuperstein’s post included the last photo he took with his parents.
“It wasn’t supposed to be,” the message concluded. “He had so much more love to give. We miss you Aba!”
