On Thursday, November 14th, 2019 my life forever changed. To give you some background information, three years ago, my husband began to get very sick. It started with an episode and a trip to the hospital where it was discovered that he had AFIB. Atrial fibrillation (also called AFib or AF) is a quivering or irregular heartbeat (arrhythmia) that can lead to blood clots, stroke, heart failure, and other heart-related complications.

Soon after his diagnosis, he had to have 3 surgeries. Eventually, my husband had to retire as a NYPD police officer because his illness progressively got worse. He had been on the force for 12 years when he retired. Prior to his illness, my husband was a very active guy. He liked kickboxing and exercising and now he could no longer participate in these activities.

This past year things got really bad with my husband’s health to the point that he went into congestive heart failure. That’s when I started getting a deeper understanding of my husband’s condition.  Beforehand, he didn’t tell me the whole scope of his condition because he didn’t want me to look at him any differently. He didn’t want people’s sympathy or pity. Nor did he want to be a burden to anyone. However, 3 months ago, my husband had gone to the hospital to see a specialist.  When he came back from his appointment, I asked him how the appointment went. That’s when he broke down and explained how bad his condition was. Basically, the specialist told my husband that a heart transplant was his best option and he would have a maximum of 5 to 10 years to live if he were to receive a heart transplant and his body was to respond well to the transplant. However, that option never came for us.

Fast forward to Thursday, November 14th, it was three days after we had celebrated our 12th wedding anniversary. The day started out as most of our days did. My husband Rahmeen and I both got up. He loved to help me in any way that he could and so he ironed my clothes and got my breakfast prepared.  I then went to work like I always did. Typically, we would text and check on each other throughout the day. At around 12:40 pm that day, as I’m leaving one work location to go to the next, I let my husband know and I ask him about how his day is going. Shortly after sending that text message, I arrived at work. At around 4 pm, I reached out again. I looked at my phone, and noticed that both of my messages said “delivered” but it didn’t say “read” like it normally did.

That’s when I got a gut feeling that something was wrong and I started panicking.

I then called my husband literally 30 times and received no answer. I rushed home.

When I got home, for some reason, I couldn’t get into the door. I looked around the parking lot and saw that my husband’s car was still parked, indicating that he was still home.  I then called his parents to see if they had heard from him but they said no. Finally, I called the maintenance company. Unfortunately, they said they couldn’t get to our home until about 30 to 40 minutes later. I then called the police who came and tried to get into the door but couldn’t. The fire department had to come and ended up breaking the door down to get inside. They rushed upstairs and wouldn’t immediately tell me anything. I had to wait 2 hours for any news of what happened to my husband. At first, they told me he was unconscious but later on, I found out that he was deceased at the home and that there was nothing more that the medics could do.

My entire world crashed when he passed. Our life. Our plans. Everything changed that day.

Since my husband’s untimely passing, I have discovered that unfortunately, Rahmeen didn’t have a will and only left behind a small life insurance policy that I am not the beneficiary of. He lived and worked his whole life to provide for his parents. My husband was a giving man and he was dedicated to ensuring that his family wouldn’t suffer and be at ease.

There are a lot of medical bills, debts, and expenses that I need to offset and don’t have the financial means to do so. The monies raised through this campaign will be used to help these off and get an attorney. 

Your generosity and support are more appreciated than could be expressed. 

Sincerely,

Kholoud Bayat