My father-in-law was an amazing man who loved hard, and when he spoke, he spoke with authority. When we saved and paid for him to fly to Hawaii to be with his brother, we didn't know that it would have been his last flight. Our hearts were slowly breaking when we found out he was in the hospital, and it didn't look so good.

Backstory: He and my mother-in-law lived in Western Samoa. I met them for the first time in 2022, after being married to my husband for 10 years. They stayed with us for 6 months, flew back to Samoa, and came back for another 6 months. After their last stay, my father-in-law had a few strokes, and that was the start of his long health battle. This year, not only did my husband deploy, but his brother, who lives in Hawaii, felt it was time to get them back and to get better medical care. We paid for them to fly to Hawaii after saving again, and after a couple of months of being back, my father-in-law's health started to decline. He was in the ICU for a few weeks, and it turns out his heart and kidneys weren't functioning to their full capacity. A Red Cross message was sent to my husband to leave and to be at his father's bedside. Within 3 days of my husband landing in Hawaii, on a Sunday morning(8-17-2025), he took his last breath next to his wife, sons, his daughter in law and 4 of his grandkids.