My father passed away on Thanksgiving Day at 2:49 p.m.

While so many families were gathered around tables together celebrating, I was gathering something completely different; strength. Strength I did not know I still had inside of me... something I needed as I held his hand, watched his chest rise and fall as his heartbeat got weaker and the hardest part; watching him struggle as he took his last breath.

But because of that; he did not leave this world alone, and for that, I am deeply grateful.

But now I’m facing something heavy and immediate: giving him dignity in death with nothing set aside to make it possible. My dad had no life insurance, no savings, and no plan for final expenses. The responsibility to make sure he is cremated and honored falls on me, and I cannot carry it alone.

I do not want my father to become an afterthought, a body waiting in a cold room because his family couldn’t help and his daughter couldn’t afford to do better.

He was flawed and complicated, like all of us, but he also was a man who loved deeply and unconditionally. He deserves to be laid to rest with care, not quietly pushed aside because of money.

My dad spent so much of his life in chains. He was incarcerated for years, and when he wasn’t behind bars, addiction and was its own kind of prison. He spent his childhood in hell and his adult life fighting the demons that haunted him since. Freedom was something he tasted in moments, not a life he ever really got to live.

he was a biker to his core. The road was where he felt the most like himself. Wind, engine, movement.....That was his version of church.

I want to arrange a “last ride” in his honor, so his story doesn’t end in a hospital bed or as a file number. I want it to end in motion, on the road he loved, surrounded by people who understand what that ride means.

In death, he finally gets what life never fully gave him: freedom.

Any amount you give will go directly toward making sure my dad is treated with dignity, not delay; with honor, not as just another unpaid bill.

If you are unable to donate, sharing this campaign helps more than you know. Every share is a chance for someone who knew him, or for someone who understands this kind of grief and struggle, to help.

This has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever walked through. Grieving, making decisions and trying to figure out how to pay for everything at the same time has been overwhelming. I’m doing my best to stay strong and honor him the way he should be honored, but I need help.

Thank you for reading, for donating if you can, and for helping me make sure my dad is remembered as a man whose story ends in freedom and a final ride, not in silence and debt.

With love and gratitude,

Danielle LaJuana Silva

Forever "DADDY'S LIL' ANGEL"