Hi, my name is Krystal, and Keith is my wonderful dad, and quite frankly, one of my best friends. He is a man of many hats: Dad, husband, papa, great papa, uncle, friend and many more. He’s a man that has always shown those he loves unconditional love and support, and given to those less fortunate, even when he himself had nothing left to give.

My mom and dad have been married almost 51 glorious years. But unfortunately just a couple of years ago, my mom received the cruelest death sentence imaginable, and was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Dementia and Frontotemporal Dementia. The dr’s didn’t know much, but they knew right away that it was very aggressive.

Since that date, my dad has loved harder, and made it his goal to keep her in the home. Unfortunately, it became too much for any of us to handle, and my father has now suffered multiple strokes from the stress that accompanied caring for his wife and best friend of 50 years. Recently she was placed in a mental hospital roughly 1.5 hours from their home, (having been deemed a risk to herself and others) until she can be placed in a nursing home.

Part of me heard relief in my dads voice, but the relief was overshadowed by fear. A fear of the costs that come along with traveling 1.5 hours 2 times daily to see my mom, a fear of which bill he would have to miss to afford the gas to get to my mom A fear of losing his home without my moms ssi to help, etc.

But he also said something that broke me… “mom will never come home again. Her last days will not be spent in the house she loved, the house we worked a lifetime for. why me, why us?” But without fail, just like the man he is, he felt guilt for saying it, and empathized with those out there fighting the battles we can’t see.

So, in this the season of miracles, I’m looking to give one to my dad, and restore his faith. More importantly, this act of kindness would allow him to breathe, and I mean truly “breathe” for the first time in a very long time.

Thank you all in advance!

The DeVita family