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BGSU running back Andrew Clair returned to the football team last week after attending the funeral for his sister, Tanisha. Clair plans to play during the shortened 2020 season.
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'She's my guardian angel:' BGSU's Andrew Clair carries on after losing sister to coronavirus

THE BLADE/REBECCA BENSON

'She's my guardian angel:' BGSU's Andrew Clair carries on after losing sister to coronavirus

BOWLING GREEN — The day simultaneously felt like it took forever and went by in a flash.

Andrew Clair went to bed on Sept. 21 knowing his sister, Tanisha, was hospitalized after testing positive for coronavirus weeks earlier, but the most recent update he received was good news. Despite being considered high-risk because of asthma and pre-diabetes, she was still texting and talking a bit, even though it left her out of breath, and had so far avoided major complications.

“The whole time she was in the hospital, we kept telling her, ‘We're going to see you. You're going to be home in a minute and home the next time I come home,’” Andrew said.

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The next day was a blur.

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One moment, the Bowling Green State University running back received a frantic phone call from his mother, Ann. The next, he was standing with BGSU coach Scot Loeffler, whom the hospital tracked down through a series of phone calls. Later, he was racing back home to St. Louis from BG, a drive that felt like it took days.

Ann’s husband, Calvin, also was hospitalized at the same time after contracting coronavirus — Ann never caught the virus and her husband has since been released — so she wasn't quite sure which one led to a flurry of missed calls from the hospital.

Once she contacted the hospital staff, she connected with a nurse treating Tanisha who had dire news.

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"She said, 'Miss Ann, Tanisha is a strong young woman — but I need you to get here to the hospital as soon as possible,'" Ann Clair said.

Complications from the virus rapidly turned into cardiac distress. The staff was unsuccessfully attempting to intubate her and began resuscitations. Ann raced to the hospital and was there in a matter of minutes, by which time doctors already were performing CPR.

When she made it to Tanisha's room, it felt like the entire hospital was there.

"I see all these people, like 30 people, and I said, 'That's not my baby's room. It couldn't be.' I sat down and I bawled," she said.

The medical team asked for Ann to see her daughter before they stopped CPR, to which Tanisha was not responding.

Doctors believed would only do further internal damage if they continued and, by the time anyone in the family had a moment to process what was happening, doctors were announcing a time of death.

Tanisha Watson was 25 years old, gone after a sudden turn that nobody was expecting.

"Throughout this whole time, we're still talking to her. None of us knew how serious it was," said Shi-Ann Wallace, Andrew and Tanisha’s older sister. "It goes from the day before where it's OK — she's not in perfect condition, but it's OK — to you having to get here now because she's passed away."

The family joined the millions of Americans who always will connect the pandemic and this time to losing a loved one, as the death count in the United States is now more than 218,000.

The redshirt junior is a gregarious person who makes friends easily, but admits it irks him to see people still not taking precautions seriously.

"It made my blood boil at first, but now, it's a completely different type of blood boil," Andrew said. "My family took it seriously. We didn't go anywhere. My great-grandmother is still living and we didn't even let people into her home. It's like, 'Nah, you're going to talk to her through the screen door.'"

As heartbreaking as the following weeks have been, the family also found immense joy in each other and in the celebration of Tanisha's life.

She loved to sing anywhere and everywhere, especially gospel and R&B. Andrew — who freely admits he is the lone member of the family with no musical talent — said everyone loved to hear Tanisha's voice, which is now featured on a Build-a-Bear that a cousin gave to Ann as a present.

In the weeks preceding her death, Tanisha was especially affectionate toward her family and seemed to tie every loose end that she had in her life. Andrew has gone through her social media profiles over and over, and said he couldn't be prouder that his sister made such an impact on so many people.

The service was spread out in a large church and musically oriented — a few members of Tanisha's college choir performed — and there was an outpouring of support that touched her closest family members.

"She just received so much love, and honestly, I found comfort in that," Shi-Ann said. "I felt like we celebrated her in a way that she would have enjoyed."

Loved ones released balloons at the service and, a day later, a balloon made its way into Ann's yard miles away, which they all took as a sign from Tanisha that everything will be OK.

"I have to be strong for my other two," Ann said. "They check on me every day, and I have my moments. But my baby is resting in Jesus' arms. We're going to go on and we're going to do what we need to do."

While the family was in the midst of planning the funeral, Andrew missed a team meeting in Bowling Green to discuss major changes to the 2020 football season.

After initially pushing football to the spring, university presidents in the Mid-American Conference had voted to resume the season starting Nov. 4, and training camps would begin at all 12 MAC schools within the next 10 days.

Andrew was reticent to leave his family — especially his mother — so soon, but there was no hesitation from everyone else.

Now in his fourth year at BGSU and a star running back in the MAC, he thought it over and believed there was only one choice: Go back to school, rejoin the team for practice, and finish his degree.

"I know she would want me to play," Andrew said. "This season is just for her. Really, every season to come, everything I do in life, is just for her."

Sitting inside the press box at Doyt Perry Stadium still in his orange practice jersey, Andrew said there is only one thing to do after a loss of this magnitude.

The grief is still fresh, but the Falcons' running back said he will carry on with his life with a new sense of purpose.

"Everything I do, I feel like she's with me," Clair said. "She's my guardian angel."

First Published October 17, 2020, 7:58 p.m.

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BGSU running back Andrew Clair returned to the football team last week after attending the funeral for his sister, Tanisha. Clair plans to play during the shortened 2020 season.  (THE BLADE/REBECCA BENSON)  Buy Image
BGSU running back Andrew Clair poses for a portrait at Doyt Perry Stadium in Bowling Green, Ohio, on Tuesday. Clair recently lost his sister, Tanisha, to the coronavirus.  (THE BLADE/REBECCA BENSON)  Buy Image
BGSU running back Andrew Clair poses for a portrait at Doyt Perry Stadium on Tuesday. Clair recently lost his sister, Tanisha, to the coronavirus.  (THE BLADE/REBECCA BENSON)  Buy Image
THE BLADE/REBECCA BENSON
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