My father Nathan King was my guy.  Anybody that knew him just a little bit, knew that the most important thing in his life was me.  My hope in life is that I can be half as good of a parent to my future kids as my dad was to me.

He was diagnosed with Crohn's disease when he was about 13, and he struggled with the affects of the disease his entire life. Nonetheless, I believed he was invincible, up until the very end. After a bowel resection surgery complication last year, my dad fought his hardest to bounce back, but ultimately his condition severely declined over this past year and he passed away on Saturday, June 13 while I held his hand.

My father was the Dad who showed up for everything to support me - he was the dance dad, the horseback riding dad, the cross country and track dad... he was always right there cheering me on. I have tried to mirror that these last 14 months in supporting my father in hopes he would recover, being his advocate when he was no longer able to speak for himself, and was there by his side when it was his time to leave me. I know that his only wish was that I would be ok when he is gone, and I know that he stuck around for so long because "he did not want to lose me", something that he said many times over the last year.

I am raising money to cover the cost of his funeral, as well as some of the medical expenses that were not covered by his insurance from this past year of hospitalizations, ambulance rides, and rehabilitation at multiple facilities.

I love you Dad.