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Glen Ridge Police Department
The son of a New Jersey police officer who died of complications from COVID-19 last year will celebrate his 12th birthday by getting the vaccine – and he hopes others will do the same.
Alice Roberts detailed in an essay published on NJ.com how her police husband, Charles “Rob” Roberts, died of COVID-19 in May 2020 after several of her colleagues at the Glen Ridge Police Department contracted the disease.
“My husband Rob was a well-respected community police officer and caught COVID-19 on the job,” Roberts, a mother of three, wrote in her essay. “He collapsed in our house when his heart stopped. The children and I heard the thud.”
In a previous essay for the website, Roberts said her husband had finally recovered from COVID-19 in hospital, but his brain was too damaged from a lack of oxygen. He was taken out of life support the day after Mother’s Day.
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Glen Ridge Police Department
As his son’s 12th birthday approached, Roberts said he asked for one thing to receive that day – a vaccine against the virus that led to his father’s death.
“All he asked for on his birthday was a COVID-19 vaccine,” Roberts wrote.
Next month, Charles’s name will be added to the National Law Enforcement Memorial Wall in Washington DC.
“I think participating is important in helping to end my children and myself, and I know my husband would be so proud to have his name on the wall,” said Roberts.
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According to Officer Down Memorial Page, COVID-19 is so far the number one killer of law enforcement officers in 2020 and 2021. The page features a list of more than 400 officers who are believed to have died from the virus.
Roberts told NJ.com that she hopes that by sharing her family story, others will be inspired to get their own vaccine.
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“By sharing my family’s experience, I hope my husband’s death and our story can help persuade others to do the most patriotic and selfless thing I can think of – get a COVID-19 vaccine. ! Roberts said on the website.
“That’s what my son is going to do this Sunday to celebrate his 12th birthday,” she added. “This will be the one he won’t forget.”
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