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'Having to grow up instantly:' Teen struggles to pay bills, manage farm after losing only parent to COVID

Over 3,000 children in North Carolina who have lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19, according to data published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.
Posted 2022-02-03T23:16:45+00:00 - Updated 2022-02-04T11:23:11+00:00
Over 3,000 NC children lost parents, grandparents to COVID-19

There's one, sizable metric in COVID-related deaths that you won't see in the daily numbers.

It's 3,626.

That is the number of children in North Carolina who have lost a parent or caregiver to COVID-19, according to data published by the American Academy of Pediatrics.

In some cases, children lost their only parent and source of support.

Jimmy Liles is one of those people. An only child to a single parent, Liles is 18 years old and a high school senior. As he prepares for his college years, the burden of adulthood is also weighing on him as he learns to keep up the house, pay bills and manage a farm.

“It’s a lot on my shoulders, for sure," he said. “Paying bills, that’s the first thing I needed to learn how to do."

His dad was admitted to the ICU in early December. "After a nightmarish 19 days, I got a call on December 22 stating that my dad had been put on a ventilator, under paralytics and sedation. I faced my first Christmas without my dad, terrified at the thought that I might never be able to talk to him again," wrote Liles on his GoFundMe page.

His father Jim Liles Sr. died from COVID in January after three weeks in the ICU – leaving a house, bills and backyard farm of around 30 animals for his son to care for.

"He loved this goat, for whatever reason it was," says Jimmy Liles, who is now responsible for two miniature goats, a pot belly pig, a Labrador retriever, turkeys, chickens and others.

His father was his best friend – a healthy, hardworking general contractor who was 58 years old and "in tip top shape for someone his age," according to his son.

He wasn't vaccinated.

“Once he got in the hospital and he was struggling, he told me, ‘This sucks,'" said Liles. "He was like ‘go get your shot.’"

With many mouths to feed and bills to pay, Liles is getting help from the very people his dad helped for years.

“He truly always wanted to make sure somebody else was better before him," says Liles.

Liles says he's alone in the world, without anyone to fall back on or support him.

"I am having to grow up instantly," he says. "I face countless medical bills, living expenses and college fees."

His GoFundMe has raised more than $60,000 as he prepares for college – money he calls "life-changing."

"Because I have a chance now," he says.

A chance to keep his dad’s memory alive on the farm — and a chance to make him proud in life.

“More than ever, I really just look forward to every day," he says. "And I am so happy to be here because truly it can change like that.”

Jimmy Liles says he got vaccinated while his dad was still in the hospital.

He’ll start college next year — and has high hopes of landing a basketball scholarship at a school close by.

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