CODY MATTHEW JAMES 1986-2023

Please I need your help.  My son passed away April 29th in Los Angeles California. He was found at Venice Beach sitting on a bench with nothing but a suitcase next to him.  They had to find his identity by using his fingerprints.  We are still waiting on his cause of death.  He was far from home without family or friends to be with him during his final moments on this earth.  There are no words to describe the pain and crushing grief that his family and I are experiencing.  We weren’t prepared for this and need your help.  We would appreciate any assistance you can give in order to pay for his services.  I’m still getting quotes from the authorities in California and different facilities as well as transportation costs to bring him home. I live in Texas and want to place him next to his father and stepmother in Mississippi. I will keep everyone updated with as many details as I can.  I’m doing this alone and the total cost is unknown due to the many variables involved. For those who did not know Matthew, I have written about his life below if you would like to read about him. Matthew was born September 19th 1986. He was only 36 and deserved so much more in the short life he was given. I loved my son before I ever met him. I felt as if I already knew him. In 1986 it wasn’t routine to have an ultrasound unless it was absolutely necessary. Somehow though, I knew he was a boy, who would have big blue eyes and blonde hair like his father Barry. He was a beautiful baby from his first breath. My first child Magen wasn’t a pretty baby until a week or so after she was born. Magen was three when Matthew was born. She wasn’t sure she was happy about being a big sister. She wanted to trade him for a girl the day she met him. She soon realized she loved her little brother after all. The day we brought him home she decided to sneak to his crib to play with him like he was one of her dolls. I don’t think I’d ever moved that fast even though I was healing from a c-section. That scary moment and so many wonderful ones will be in my mind forever. He was a sweet little boy who always allowed his sister do the talking for him. They were best friends from the beginning. I honestly don’t remember an actual argument between them until he was probably about to start school. They loved each other fiercely. Matthew started elementary school and proved what we already knew, he was extremely smart. He went on to win many awards for his accomplishments. He loved sports and started playing baseball just like his dad had as a kid. He loved it and played for several years. He also loved science and enjoyed rockets. He and his friends were always outside launching them only to spend hours looking for where they landed. One day he decided he would try something new and I quickly realized why I kept running out of hairspray. His latest project was a potato gun. I laughed so hard when I saw him launch a potato up and over the trees in our front yard. He was always building or taking something apart. His little brother Zach was born when he was eleven. Zach was his new best buddy. No one could make Zach laugh harder than Matthew. Zach followed him everywhere and didn’t want to miss anything his brother was doing. Years later I found out that Zach would often blackmail Matthew and Magen to clean his room. Matthew would always do it to stay out of trouble. I think Magen blackmailed Matthew to do her part of cleaning Zach’s room. It was the curse of being the middle child. After baseball he wanted to play football and started his first year of middle school and played until his freshman year of high school. He was interested in going into the military and joined the JROTC program at his high school. He excelled and finished as a Chief Master Sergeant. He would have joined the military right after high school if he hadn’t decided to give up his dream to stay home to help his family. I was newly divorced from Zach’s father and recovering from a ski accident that lead to a staph infection in my spine. It wasn’t easy for me knowing what he had sacrificed for us. I don’t know what I would have done without him being there for Zach and I. A few years later he was able to move to be close to his dad Barry and his family in Louisiana . He got a great job with a cable company and eventually got his own apartment. I was always proud but to see him shine was the best feeling in the world. He was finally building his own life. He continued to excel with his company and his future was brighter than ever. One day however, he wasn’t himself and started having a delusional episode. He would be himself one minute and the next was saying things that didn’t make sense. He was frustrated that we didn’t understand what he was trying to say. It took several years to discover that he had developed schizophrenia. His and our reality were forever changed. My beautiful boy would come through every once in a while only to be replaced with a stranger again. He wouldn’t accept that he had developed a mental illness. He left his job and his apartment and eventually became homeless. We never wanted this, but he often preferred living this way. He didn’t want to conform to the standards of what others thought was a normal life. I along with the rest of his family who adored him had to get used to not having the Matthew we knew and loved. We still saw our beautiful Matthew underneath and prayed God would protect him. I want to remember my son as the man he was before and after his mental illness. He had the best hugs, biggest smile, sweetest soul and loved his family. We loved him with everything we had and prayed that God would bring him back to us. He called him home before we were ready to let him go. His Schizophrenia was treatable and is the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain. Too many of the homeless are people that suffer from mental illness just like my son. They have family and friends who love them unconditionally just like Matthew does. Our lives are forever changed and we are so lucky God gave him to us. Thank you for letting me tell you about my wonderful son.