SC mother loses 24 year old son to COVID-19 as she fights her own battle with the virus

Athena Quierdo mother of son says: "I told him I would bring him home and I did. It's not what I expected to bring home,"

Story by Anjali Patel

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WPDE) — Kyle McCarthy was a miracle from the start.

His mother, Athena Querido said he barely made it through childbirth.

He’s been fighting for survival his whole life, she said. He’s endured countless surgeries and illnesses. After each tribulation, he would emerge with a smile.

“I tried to make his life special because he had different life than most typical 24-year-olds,” Querido said.

She said he had an intellectual disability and a compromised immune system. He was hospitalized with pneumonia in early August, which he has had multiple times before. But shortly after he was hospitalized, he was diagnosed with COVID-19. They knew this was going to be a tough fight.

“He kept on saying, ‘Mom I’m going to die,'” she said.

Querido said she did her best to keep his spirits up as he spent nearly a month on and off a ventilator at Grand Strand Medical Center.

“I would play messages from family and friends on his cell phone every day on how much they loved him and how important he was,” she said. “I had to hold back tears. I refused to go in there and cry to him because if he sensed my unhappiness, he never wanted me sad. He always wanted me happy.”

She was hoping just one more miracle would get him through the fight against COVID-19, but he passed away on Aug. 28. He was just 24-years-old.

“I just had to bring his remains home couple days ago. I told him I would bring him home and I did. It’s not what I expected to bring home,” she said. “I lost my best friend, my son and I just feel like my heart’s just been ripped out.”

Ever since he passed, she said countless people have reached out to her, telling her the impact her son had on them.

She said he loved heroes, and she wishes he knew he was one.

“It just seems so ironic that he loved the Black Panther and that he died the same day Kyle did, August 28. A hero met him in heaven and they were together, and to me he always loved superheroes, but he was that superhero to so many lives. He didn’t even realize he was that special,” she said.

He was an active member of several organizations that help others with disabilities, like Champion Autism Network, the SOS Care of SC, and the ARC of SC.

“I believe he was an angel sent here. He’s touched so many people,” she said. “I have to be strong for his friends, the kids with disabilities, they seek me out. I’m trying to be strong for them. They want to hear from me daily.”

She said teachers from his alma mater, Myrtle Beach High School, have reached out to offer their condolences, too, along with his former coworkers. He worked at TopGolf.

“I knew he touched my heart. I didn’t realize how much he touched the community,” she said.

She said he was always more concerned about others than himself. That’s why when she was diagnosed with COVID-19 when he was in the hospital, she never told him. She was able to recover as she watched her son continue to struggle.

She doesn’t know how they both got COVID-19, because she said they were incredibly careful given his immunocompromised state. She encourages everyone to wear masks and take this virus seriously.

“This virus was too strong for him. He fought as hard as he could,” she said. “I hope his memory goes on forever. I’ll try to do that for him.”