Kelly Conkey Billups (center) with her husband, Don Billups (standing left), who is on a ventilator; her parents, Judith and Lewis (sitting), who died Tuesday; and her brother, David Conkey, who died Sunday An Ohio woman says the coronavirus has “destroyed” her family — killing her parents and brother as her husband remains hospitalized on life support, according to reports. Kelly Conkey Billups, 54, said COVID-19 first claimed the life of her 51-year-old brother, David Conkey, on Sunday before her parents, Lewis and Judith Conkey, died just hours apart Tuesday at a hospital, the Columbus Dispatch reports. Her brother, who tested positive for the coronavirus several weeks ago, became ill in early March upon returning to his Austintown home after helping their 75-year-old mother settle in at a rehab center in Hilliard, the Dispatch reports. Lewis Conkey with his daughter, Kelly Conkey Billups Conkey Billups’ daughter, meanwhile, said she and her mother — who works as a realtor in Grove City — have not shown any of the flu-like symptoms that ravaged her family. The grief, however, is almost overwhelming, she said. “We’re hanging in there,” Katie Gardbrandt told WJW-TV. “We’ve gotten a lot of prayers, support and love from all of our family, friends, several people we don’t know, as well as the hospital. And that’s really what’s keeping us going.” Source
