6 years later: Fort Myers musician remembers friend lost to COVID-19

FORT MYERS, Fla. (WINK)—Nearly 87,000 people in Florida have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began six years ago.

Behind every one of those numbers is a family, a friendship and a life that left a gaping hole behind.

Willie Miller, a local musician, lost his friend and bandmate early in the pandemic. He says six years later, the loss still hurts just as much.

"He was so well loved that when he walked in the room, changed the whole atmosphere of the room," said Miller of The Collaboration Band said.

With a smile on his face and a guitar in hand, AJ Mullins could light up any stage.

"When he gets on stage and start playing and cracking jokes and stuff, you forget about everything that you went through that day," Miller said.

But in June 2020, the music stopped. Mullins, The Collaboration Band's guitarist and lead singer, died from COVID-19.

"We lost AJ, and to be honest with you, I didn't think I would make it back from that because I was in the hospital," Miller said.

When Miller learned his friend had died, he was lying in a hospital bed fighting COVID himself.

"They were all like, 'Man, AJ, we want you to continue so, just take the time that you need and then we'll just come back around to it,'" Miller said.

Months later, The Collaboration Band took the stage again. But this time, someone missing.

"When I'm setting up, I was so used to AJ being right here, and he wasn't there," Miller said.

Today The Collaboration Band is still playing. New members have joined, but AJ is never far from their minds.

"He's always there no matter where we go, no matter what we do. I know AJ is always there," Miller said.