Hi my names Bennie,

On March 16th, I lost my father, Bennie Taylor II. My dad was a young, full of life dad and pop pop, with so much more life to live. In January, he suffered an unexpected medical emergency. He was brought to Albany medical where he was left in the waiting room overnight even though his sugar was over 400. They discharged him home with no real treatment and no plan. Two days later, diabetic ketoacidosis would land him to be hospitalized for two months. My father had not struggled with or been medicated for his type 2 diabetes in years. The hospital suspected an infection caused his spike in sugar but they weren’t able to find it. He spent two months on and off of a ventilator, with a feeding tube and working on talking and regaining himself back.

Although he wasn’t quite fully recovered and was still on a feeding tube, the only path they saw for him was recovery. We expected him to be coming home. He was transferred to a rehabilitation center as they were confident he was ready to start his road back to his life. Within 48 hours, he suffered two cardiac arrests. Following his cardiac arrests, he was immediately transferred back to the hospital where he remained on life support, in a deep coma for about a week and a half before his tired body was done fighting. He passed naturally the evening of March 16th.

My dad was one of the most loving, quiet, strongest, thoughtful people you could come across. I’ve watched him grow as much as he’s watched me. Together, we truly got to see the best versions of each other but his time was cut way too short.

As my father lived alone, working two jobs to create his beautiful life over the past few years, my family and I are now finding ourselves gathering our finances to give him the beautiful service, in his memory that he deserves, as well as costs to move everything out of his apartment and other expenses.

It’s not easy asking for help, but we appreciate any small amount that could be contributed. With today’s economy, I understand if you can’t, but please keep my family in your prayers and thoughts. Thank you for reading my dad’s story and please let him live on with love, in all of your memories.