can to expand capacity, get those folks into the operating room with their surgeons who can cure them. but at the end of the day, we're delaying their care. >> they did cpr for 45 minutes. >> reporter: as darryl got the tragic call his sister had died -- >> i was destroyed. i didn't know what was going to happen with these two beautiful children. >> reporter: he was also grappling with something else. his 71-year-old unvaccinated mother had also gotten covid and was coming out of a medically induced coma. she had to be told that her daughter, just a few rooms away, had died from the same disease. >> i got a phone call from the nurses saying, get back up here. you need to tell your mom. we're all mothers and she deserves to know. >> reporter: even now, darryl says his mother is still on the fence about the vaccine. now left to raise his niece and nephew, he says the day following his sister's death -- >> the next day i went and got my vaccination. it was the hardest decision of my life. am i doing right by god? am i doing right by natalie? and i got it out of fear.