Triplet brothers who are blind and became Eagle Scouts are battling COVID-19
ARLINGTON, Va. — Thursday night we spoke with Leo Cantos via Zoom from his hospital room at Virginia Hospital Center in Arlington.
Cantos says, “It’s really scary. When I came to the hospital, I was like what’s going on? I’ve never been this sick before. This is not a normal cold, guys. It’s a really big deal.”
Leo Cantos, his brothers Nick and Steven are about as resilient as they come. A couple of years ago, we featured the triplets from Northern Virginia after they earned the rank of Eagle Scout.
Their father, Ollie Cantos, says on Monday, all three tested positive for COVID-19.
Leo has been hospitalized since then and is said to be improving. Nick was admitted Thursday. Steven has symptoms and remains quarantined.
Leo says, “I’m still on oxygen recovering, yeah. But it’s a long work in progress. Please, please take the social distancing guidelines to heart. Please do it. You don’t want this virus. It really hurts. Like, really hurts.”
We asked Leo about his brother Nick who is in a different room at the same hospital.
“I’m really worried about Nick. I don’t know really what’s going on with him right now too much,” says Leo.
The triplet’s father, Ollie Cantos, adds, “He’s trying to keep his spirits up but he’s kind of scared.”
Ollie Cantos says his 20-year-old sons did everything right. They came home from college and self-isolated for a month in a separate house in Arlington they shared with others. The brothers didn’t want to return to their father’s home as the family wanted to limit the number of people in their dad’s house since their grandmother is immunocompromised.
“But there were a few people in that house that did come and go and somehow one of them tracked it into the house and they don’t show symptoms at all but they still brought it in and it affected all three of my boys,” says Ollie Cantos.
The family is not focused on blame. They only want your prayers and your vigilance when it comes to social distancing.
Leo Cantos says, “If I didn’t have all these people rooting for me I don’t think I would be able to survive this.”
“Together as a world, we will get through this. We just have to,” concludes Ollie Cantos.
