Assistance with funeral and travel expenses

Hi, My name is Tina and I am trying to raise funds to assist with funeral expenses/ travel expenses to bury our baby brother Kevin Christopherson who passed away unexpectedly this morning.

Kevin was the youngest of 4 kids. He was definitely the "baby". He was funny, athletic, and like to instigate trouble with his older brother whenever he could! You could find the two side by side, fishing poles in hand on any given weekend.

As they got older, the recreational activities changed to drinking, smoking and trying to avoid being caught by their father! The whoppings were epic!

It became evident in his late teens to early 20's that something was wrong with Kevin. He started getting in some trouble with the law and spent some time in prison. It was while incarcerated that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia.

The visions and voices scared him but the medicine he was prescribed at first made things worse for him and he refused to take it when he was released from prison.

After the loss of our Dad, he really had a hard time grasping reality. We had many discussions about what we could and should do but Kevin decided it was time to move away before we could get him help.

Kevin moved to upstate NY with a duffle bag and $20.

He stayed in between shelters, cardboard boxes, he got mixed up with heavy drugs like heroine and meth. Mom was constantly getting calls from Albany med to sign DNR paperwork for him as he had been brought in 4 times in 5 or 6 months due to an overdose. She could never do that to her baby. Her greatest fear was getting a phone call that he had passed away. She never got that call however. She passed away last December.

The schizophrenia got so bad the voices told him to jump off a bridge. He did, into the Hudson. He was rescued by the coast guard and taken to Albany med. This time they held him on psych hold.

This was 11 years after he first moved out there! He spent 11 years living on the streets trying to survive. I can only imagine how scary and isolating a disease like schizophrenia is.

During those 11 years he had been approached numerous times by an outreach center. They are a shelter/ assisted living type home for people with dual diagnosis of mental illness and addiction. It took him jumping off a bridge and being seriously hurt to finally accept their help.

The last 2 years of Kevin's life have been much easier. He's had his own apartment at this center, he had people who cared about him and watched out for him and he's been able to still stay independent. They could never hold him still long enough to get disability paperwork going for him so he had no income at all. He would get a little money panhandling or shoveling sidewalks in the winter but he did what he had to in order to quiet the voices.

Kevin was living in Troy NY. The rest of us siblings live in South Dakota. None of us are in any financial position to pay for a funeral or for the travel expenses out there and back.

I know this is a really hard time of year for everyone. Any assistance is appreciated.