JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A Jacksonville mother has lost two of her adult sons to COVID-19. She also caught the virus with them.
She was vaccinated. They weren’t.
“It’s a parent’s worst nightmare,” said a teary-eyed Lisa Brandon. “The only reason I’m doing this is to put the word out to please get vaccinated.”
She lived with her sons on the Southside and said everyone got sick in late July.
But Aaron Jaggi, 35, and Free Jaggi, 41, got worse. So she took them to the hospital. Both contracted double pneumonia. Both were admitted into the intensive care unit and ultimately put on ventilators.
Free died on Aug. 12. Aaron passed away on Aug. 13. They died within 12 hours of each other.
“This is horrible. I love my boys,” said a weeping Brandon. “They never made it home.”
Brandon’s now lost all three of her children: her son David passed away five years ago.
“My boys, they were my life,” she said. “That’s all I lived for, for them.”
Brandon said she took the Moderna vaccine and credits that for her mild case. She said she couldn’t convince her sons to get immunized.
“I think they would be alive today if they would have gotten their shot,” she said. “I wouldn’t have gotten it as bad. I wish I could have made them do it. And now it’s too late.”
As she deals with loss and an empty home, which she now has to move out of because they shared rent, she hopes others learn a lesson from her terrible tragedy.
Family friends are trying to support her however they can.
“I think Aaron and Free would be just blown away to see how many people cared about them,” said family friend Brittany Pequignot. “And how many people are stepping up to help their mom out in this tough time.”
Pequignot set up a fundraiser online so Brandon doesn’t have to worry about funeral expenses.