Tuscaloosa County nurse dies from COVID-19 complications
NORTHPORT, AL (WBMA) A Tuscaloosa County nurse died from COVID-19 complications, according to his family.
Jerry Alford was 60 years old and working as an operating room nurse at DCH Regional Medical Center in Northport. He died on April 22nd.
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Alford spent 32 years as a nurse and was known for his big personality and love for helping others.
"Jerry was very outgoing, he always had a positive sense of humor was always a joker, " said Dustin Banks, a close friend of the family.
Banks met Alford over 20 years ago after he became friends with the nurse's son, Jack. According to Banks, Jack was recently diagnosed with Leukemia near the time Alford tested positive for COVID-19.
"I called him to check on him, and he told me the bad news. Honestly it was like 'how can one family go through so much" he said.
Banks believes Jack has helped keep everyone together by remaining positive through his own battle with cancer. He still remembers the hunting and fish trips they shared with Alford.
"I love Jerry as my own father because I was around him so much, and we hunted and fished together, so I considered him a personal friend outside of just my best friend."
Aside from helping others through nursing, Alford also served his country as a United States Marine.
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"It hit home because it was the first person I knew personally that had contracted the virus, and I guess it made it more real because you hear stuff and you wonder what's true and what's not true. but the biggest thing to me was the fact that the world just lost a happy good person that would do anything for anybody"
