Pastor Emanuel Azan is a broken man as on Saturday his mother, Tilletha Hyde, lost her battle with COVID-19 at Jacoby Hospital in New York.

The doctors said she fought hard as she was expected to die about three days before, and she held on,” said Azan, who added that he genuinely believes his mom was trying to outlive the virus so that she could return to her beloved home and be buried.

Azan, who is engaged in ministry, also operates a registered charity in Jamaica – Kingdom Outreach International – for the sole purpose of helping the various communities he is engaged with, such as Effortville, Farm, Palmer’s Cross and Christiana.

The May Pen infirmary has also benefited from his outreach, as well as seniors for whom he has built flush toilets

Remembering his mother, he said she was a woman who always embraced other children, accepting them into her fold.

Azan, who hails from Farm in May Pen, migrated in to the United States in 1976.