My name is Emily, and I’m creating this fundraiser for my sister-in-law and niece after the devastating loss of my brother, Jason.

Jason was a husband, a father, and the primary provider for his family. His loss has left an enormous hole in their lives… emotionally, but also in the everyday reality of figuring out how to move forward without him.

Right now, I want to give them something they desperately need: time.

Time to grieve without immediately worrying about how the bills will be paid. Time to figure out what life looks like from here. Time to make decisions without the added pressure of financial survival while their entire world has just changed.

Funds raised will first help cover their household expenses and necessities over the coming months while our family helps them determine the path forward.

And there is one other thing I would love to give them.

They want to go on a cruise together.

Not as a vacation from normal life, but as an escape from a life that suddenly doesn’t feel normal at all.

Right now, everywhere they turn there is another reminder of what they’ve lost. There are phone calls to make, paperwork to handle, bills to figure out, belongings and memories everywhere, and the overwhelming question of what life is supposed to look like now.

I want to give them permission to step away from all of it for a little while.

To get on a ship, leave land behind, and for a few days have nowhere they need to be and nothing they need to fix.

I want them to have the freedom to sleep if they need to sleep. Cry if they need to cry. Sit together and stare at the ocean. Laugh without feeling guilty when a good moment sneaks in. Talk about Jason. Be quiet. Grieve. Breathe.

There is something about being out on the ocean, away from home and all of the responsibilities waiting there, that feels like exactly what they need right now: space to simply exist together after surviving something unimaginable.

It won’t take away their grief, and it isn’t meant to. I just want to give them a safe place to carry it for a little while, without the rest of the world asking anything from them.

If we can give Jason’s wife and daughter even a few days of that kind of freedom… and give them some financial security to come home to… that would mean everything to our family.

Thank you for loving Jason, loving his family, and helping us take care of his girls. ❤️