The Tragic Death Of Elizabeth Warren's Brother

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren is reminding everyone to tell people how much you love them as she mourns the death of her older brother John Herring. Announcing the news on Instagram, Warren posted a black and white photo of her and her brother side by side. Standing in front of a Christmas tree, the two hug as Warren looks to the camera smiling, and her brother offers a more serious smile in what appears to be his Air Force uniform.

"John had cancer for a long time, and finally it got to him," she wrote. "He was at home, and he'd been strong enough to watch the football game on Monday (Dallas Cowboys, of course) with his son Mark. But he started going down sharply on Wednesday, then died on Thursday," her caption read.

Warren, who is the youngest of four siblings, also described memories of her and her brother alongside the photo. "John was the middle brother — the sweet one who was soft-spoken, shy, ready to help," she wrote. Continuing to remember and honor her older brother, Warren wrote about how he would always carry her on his shoulders, even if he had to bend down to make sure he wouldn't hit her head on the door. She then finished by writing about his wife, Barbara, and their love, before saying she hopes he has been reunited with her. 

At the end of her post, Sen. Elizabeth Warren wrote a message for anyone else who is experiencing grief. "This has been a hard year and a half for so many people. The same day John died, another 2,744 people died from COVID. Families all across our nation have lost brothers, cousins, friends, parents, children — the list is too long to absorb," she wrote.

Losing a loved one to COVID is a pain Warren and her family felt last year as she lost her brother Don Reed to COVID-19. Due to protocols for the coronavirus, her brother died alone, according to People. "I'm grateful to the nurses and frontline staff who took care of him, but it's hard to know that there was no family to hold his hand or to say 'I love you' one more time — and no funeral for those of us who loved him to hold each other close," Warren said in a statement at the time, via People.

Warren ended her post about her brother John Herring by adding a heartfelt note reminding her followers to tell family members you love them. "Almost no one is left untouched. The ache gets deeper, but so does the urgency to tell someone how much you love them — loudly and directly."