PORTLAND, Oregon — COVID-19 has now taken the lives of 1,808 Oregonians.
Every one of those people has a unique story, their own families, passions and interests. It's important to understand there are faces behind the numbers.
Chris Martin died at 68 years old from COVID-19-related pneumonia on Dec. 3, 2020. His was one of more than 470 lives lost to the disease in the month of December - by far the deadliest month for Oregon and the United States since the start of the pandemic so far.
"He filled the room with his presence," Chris Martin's brother Doug Martin said. "We need more people like Chris."
Now, Chris leaves a void that's impossible to fill.
Doug looked up to his older brother.
"He played such an important role in his communities – family and friends. That of teacher; teacher of tolerance, love, caring, empathy, acceptance. And I learned all those things from him. He really formed so much of who I am by example," Doug said.
In simply being himself, Chris taught life lessons that people with Down Syndrome often teach others. Doug describes him as warm, lovable, adorable and rarely unpleasant.
Chris loved to swim, run and jump, and he competed in Special Olympics. Two books were even written about him - one by his mother, a professor, and one by another professor.
"He had a great sense of humor and play," his pastor Jeanne Randall-Bodman said. "He was just very inexpressibly himself."
She recalls Chris coming into church and immediately embracing people with his famous hugs.
"Chris was a gift to the world," Randall-Bodman added.
He served as acolyte at Kairos-Milwaukie United Church of Christ, helping with ceremonial duties like lighting altar candles.
"There was a drum there, and he decided it was a part of his expression. And it became a very beloved part of worship," Randall-Bodman said.
Randall-Bodman says the congregation missed Chris during the pandemic because church has been virtual.
The 68-year-old lived at a Rainbow Adult Living group home in Portland, a long-term care facility for people with developmental, intellectual and mental health disabilities.
Elderly people living in long-term care facilities are extremely vulnerable and susceptible to getting the virus and becoming seriously sick or dying.
"They did such a good job keeping [the coronavirus] out of the house, but I guess it was just bound to happen," Doug said.
There were safety protocols but Chris' brother believes someone without symptoms brought COVID in and exposed Chris and other residents. He developed a fever, diarrhea, cough and, eventually, struggled to breathe.
The group home called Doug immediately when they knew they needed to send Chris to the hospital. Once he got there, he tested positive for COVID-19.
Just days later on Dec. 3, Chris lost his life to pneumonia caused by COVID-19.
"There was a day or two where it seemed like he was getting better and me, knowing Chris, it's like, he was going to be fine, you know. So that happened fast," Doug said. "After that it was just all the sudden, it just turned around and there it was."
Doug lives in Washington and hadn't seen his brother in a year because it wasn't safe to do so yet during the pandemic. He wasn't there for his brother's last moments.
"Chris loved people in uniform. He loved doctors and nurses. He was with people that he loved and loved him because he was so adorable," Doug said. "If there was anybody to die in the company of strangers, it would be my brother, because there's hardly anybody who's really a stranger to him."
Since his passing, countless people have shared memories of Chris. Although it doesn't fill the void, it helps in the grieving process.
"It's been quite something revisiting, thinking about Chris - who he was and who he isn't now," Doug said.
"He had a very full life. He was loved, and loved a lot of people and contributed with his gifts. That's a good life," Randall-Bodman added.
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