A Kearny family is mourning a mother and son who died from complications relating to COVID-19.

Rudy Reitz lost his wife Carolyn to the virus and then his stepson Thomas nine days later. Thomas had Down syndrome.

“She spent her entire life devoted to making sure Thomas was OK…his mother was his entire life,” Reitz says.

Reitz says that his wife had a nagging respiratory condition this past winter, but that the symptoms suddenly became worse in mid-March. Thomas fell ill soon after and died on his 30th birthday on April 6.

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Like the more than 2,000 New Jersey families who have lost loved ones to COVID-19, the Reitz family was not able to hold a public funeral.

Reitz says that the hardest part about all of this is “the inability to have proper funerals and burials and have other people come and be with us and grieve with us.”

Reitz and his daughter have both also tested positive for the virus and are in quarantine with mild symptoms.

A GoFundMe Page has been set up to help with the Reitz family's expenses.