My name is Carmela Rivera, I am John Rivera’s oldest daughter. I am creating this on behalf of my brothers and sisters to help cover my fathers funeral expenses.

On the night of June 24th, my father was in his home with my 11 year old sister and went into cardiac arrest. My little sister called emergency services, and when the paramedics arrived they were able to successfully resuscitate my father. My father had went through an estimate of 5-15 minutes without oxygen to the brain before he was resuscitated.

He suffered severe brain damage from the lack of oxygen, losing his basics reflexes including cough, and swallow reflexes. He spent 17 days in ICU without waking up, showing no recovery or progress, before passing away on July 11th, 2022 at 1:44PM.

The unexpected and tragic passing of my father, has been an extremely slow and painful process to see as we waited in the hospital by his side daily for any signs of improvement. All 7 of his children ranging from 11-28 years old including myself and his two grandchildren aged 4 and 5 are faced with the hard reality that we will have to continue our lives without him.

All money donated goes directly to our family for all funeral expenses.

My dad was and will always be so loved. To be loved by him was an ultimate blessing. He was the most knowledgeable, brave, charismatic, creative, wise, supportive man. He always knew how to make you smile or light up a room. He was loyal, confident, hilarious, thoughtful, and a fearless warrior. He was incredibly caring and full of life.

He touched so many of the lives around him with his compassion. Life will not be the same without him.

We have been raised to never ask and always, GIVE. Helping our family through this time will help ease some of the extremely heavy burden we now carry.

On behalf of the Rivera family, we would like to extend our gratitude to everyone that reached out to check on my father and send prayers while he was in the hospital while also checking on us. It truly demonstrated how much he meant to those around him.

My family and I humbly ask for anyone able to support to help with my beloved father’s funeral expenses. We asked that you keep us in your prayers for our strength and peace to continue without him.

There is no doubt in our minds that John has tattooed a piece of himself in everyone who knew him.

And for those that know him, always remember his contagious laugh, unique sense of humor, and his passion to always persevere.

Collectively, we are proud and it is a privilege as his children to carry on his legacy, laughs, love, strength, perseverance and faith. We represent forever #RIVERA

This page is dedicated to an irreplaceable soul that left us way too soon. Please share any thoughts, photos, or special memories. They will be complied to share with the family and keep for memories.