Funeral Cost for Donald Gauthier
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A Soldier's Last Wish
Our father, Donald Gauthier, spent 17 years in the Army serving his country. He desired to serve longer, but he was honorably discharged with a medical condition known as polyneuropathy and spent the rest of his life on a fixed income from Army pension and disability. Unfortunately our soldiers are not always substantially compensated for their sacrifice and service. Yet, our father never complained and lived as many Americans do, from paycheck to paycheck, month to month and unable to put aside savings in the process. As most of you are aware, funeral costs are very steep, and it adds a huge hurdle for our family as we grieve and make his final funeral arrangements. None of us had the money upfront to pay for a funeral, and our mother has been left with no monthly income.
Our father and mother were married for almost 43 years (with him passing away just days before their 43rd anniversary). Our father and Valine, our mother had 4 children together. Dad had 6 children in total from previous relationships, 9 grandchildren, and left a deep impact not only on all of our lives, but on everyone he had ever met. We never met a person who did not grow to love our father.
Dad's health declined from congestive heart failure over 4 years ago. His health slowly deteriorated until 2 months ago he suddenly needed to be put on an oxygen tank 24/7. Alongside that, he'd survived kidney cancer several years prior and had only one kidney functioning at less than 5% which finally competed with his weak heart. His doctors told him that he needed dialysis treatment urgently or it would be fatal. He had 3 dialysis treatments until upon the 4th treatment he had a heart attack, cutting off oxygen and blood supply to his brain for nearly 10 min before the medical staff and paramedics could get his heart started again. The human brain can only take a maximum of 2-3 min. without oxygen and blood before suffering damage.
We were shocked. We saw him slowly recovering. We all thought things were getting better and suddenly we were called in to critical care at Borgess hospital to discover that he had suffered a heart attack and was left with severe brain damage and in a coma. After spending four days in a comatose state, and after several tests confirming that he would never be able to be himself again, we as a family decided to honor our father's last wishes. It's as if he had a strange knowing. He had always told us for many years that if he was ever left in a vegetative state, to let him go. We didn't want to believe it, but we insisted on having every fact checked before we could really be sure it was time to let go. Several doctors and his neurologist concluded that he had only minimal brain stem activity in tact. Also, his heart and kidney were fighting each other. We could no longer let him be trapped in his body. It was the hardest thing we ever had to do, to let go of our best friend, our father. Within a little over an hour he passed with all of his children, wife, and various other family members by his side on Oct 16th at 5:52 pm EDT. We will miss him every day of our lives!
We had to borrow money upfront to prepare for his funeral arrangements. We have only 30 days to pay the loan back. We're seeking to raise a minimum of $10,000 to cover the cost of funeral expenses, and anything more than that helps to raise money to help our mother pay off her remaining bills and find a new place to live near us until we can figure out and divide the expenses to support her financially. She too is unable to work, and she has no income currently coming in and it would help us greatly at or beyond the initial $10,000. Any level of donation is appreciated.
Thank you all for your love and generosity in helping us to give our father (who served in the army for so many years) an honorable military funeral and memorial service, and for helping us to boost our Mom financially until we kids collectively find a way to keep her well and comfortable...and we will find a way...thank you in advance to all of you who can help add your support!
With Deepest Gratitude,
The Gauthier Family
Our father, Donald Gauthier, spent 17 years in the Army serving his country. He desired to serve longer, but he was honorably discharged with a medical condition known as polyneuropathy and spent the rest of his life on a fixed income from Army pension and disability. Unfortunately our soldiers are not always substantially compensated for their sacrifice and service. Yet, our father never complained and lived as many Americans do, from paycheck to paycheck, month to month and unable to put aside savings in the process. As most of you are aware, funeral costs are very steep, and it adds a huge hurdle for our family as we grieve and make his final funeral arrangements. None of us had the money upfront to pay for a funeral, and our mother has been left with no monthly income.
Our father and mother were married for almost 43 years (with him passing away just days before their 43rd anniversary). Our father and Valine, our mother had 4 children together. Dad had 6 children in total from previous relationships, 9 grandchildren, and left a deep impact not only on all of our lives, but on everyone he had ever met. We never met a person who did not grow to love our father.
Dad's health declined from congestive heart failure over 4 years ago. His health slowly deteriorated until 2 months ago he suddenly needed to be put on an oxygen tank 24/7. Alongside that, he'd survived kidney cancer several years prior and had only one kidney functioning at less than 5% which finally competed with his weak heart. His doctors told him that he needed dialysis treatment urgently or it would be fatal. He had 3 dialysis treatments until upon the 4th treatment he had a heart attack, cutting off oxygen and blood supply to his brain for nearly 10 min before the medical staff and paramedics could get his heart started again. The human brain can only take a maximum of 2-3 min. without oxygen and blood before suffering damage.
We were shocked. We saw him slowly recovering. We all thought things were getting better and suddenly we were called in to critical care at Borgess hospital to discover that he had suffered a heart attack and was left with severe brain damage and in a coma. After spending four days in a comatose state, and after several tests confirming that he would never be able to be himself again, we as a family decided to honor our father's last wishes. It's as if he had a strange knowing. He had always told us for many years that if he was ever left in a vegetative state, to let him go. We didn't want to believe it, but we insisted on having every fact checked before we could really be sure it was time to let go. Several doctors and his neurologist concluded that he had only minimal brain stem activity in tact. Also, his heart and kidney were fighting each other. We could no longer let him be trapped in his body. It was the hardest thing we ever had to do, to let go of our best friend, our father. Within a little over an hour he passed with all of his children, wife, and various other family members by his side on Oct 16th at 5:52 pm EDT. We will miss him every day of our lives!
We had to borrow money upfront to prepare for his funeral arrangements. We have only 30 days to pay the loan back. We're seeking to raise a minimum of $10,000 to cover the cost of funeral expenses, and anything more than that helps to raise money to help our mother pay off her remaining bills and find a new place to live near us until we can figure out and divide the expenses to support her financially. She too is unable to work, and she has no income currently coming in and it would help us greatly at or beyond the initial $10,000. Any level of donation is appreciated.
Thank you all for your love and generosity in helping us to give our father (who served in the army for so many years) an honorable military funeral and memorial service, and for helping us to boost our Mom financially until we kids collectively find a way to keep her well and comfortable...and we will find a way...thank you in advance to all of you who can help add your support!
With Deepest Gratitude,
The Gauthier Family
Organizer
Rob Gauthier
Organizer
Vicksburg, MI
