My name is Leslie Smith, and I'm starting a GoFundMe for my Aunt Sylvia's funeral. She passed away at 6:12 this evening, April 10th, 2026, at the old Mountain Vista Hospital, which is now called Honor Health Four Peaks Hospital.

My aunt came to live with me in December of 2025. She had been bounced around to different places for a while. Her daughter called me and said they were moving her to Phoenix, Arizona, and she didn't want that. She asked me if I would take her and care for her since I've been in health care for over 35 years. I told her I sure would. When Sylvia got to my house, she was happy to be here. She asked me if I remembered her asking me years ago if I would take care of her when she got old. I told her I did remember.

When I got Sylvia, she was only 74 pounds, and she had become a fall risk and had dementia. Hospice had been with her for some time. Last Friday, April 3rd, she went to the Banner Goldfield ER in Apache Junction because she said her lung hurt because she fell. But she hadn't fallen. The hospital said that they couldn't find anything wrong with her. They did X-rays, CT, and said there was nothing wrong with her and sent her home.

Sunday, April 5th, I got up and was doing our morning routine, and I felt her, and she was burning up, so I took her temperature. It was 102.5. I called 911 immediately. They came and took her to Four Peaks, even though she was on hospice. It was Easter, and I was afraid they wouldn't get here fast enough, and I didn't want anything to happen to her, so she went to the hospital. She wasn't there long, and they told her daughter and me she had pneumonia and asked if we wanted them to keep her. I told them to ask her if she wanted to stay so they could give her antibiotics for a few days, and she said yes. Then she asked me if she could come back home after they got her pneumonia cleared up. I told her absolutely. She was afraid I was going to leave her. That wasn't going to happen. She was happy even though she was sick. She was glad she was coming back to my house. I loved her so much.

They put her on IV antibiotics. She was having problems swallowing, and she kept choking. She was still coherent, though. After her daughter and I came home, the doctor called and said they had to move her to the telemetry floor because she had AFIB, and her heart was racing. Her heart level was 134, so they continued to give her antibiotics and AFIB medication plus anticoagulant meds. Her veins were so small they kept blowing. They tried to put a tube through her nose to her stomach so they could feed her that way. But she didn't want it, and she wasn't a good candidate for a PEG line, so there weren't many options.

Sylvia was still in good spirits, though. She just wanted to come home. The doctor called her daughter and told her that the pneumonia had spread to her other lung and that they hadn't been able to give any food because she couldn't swallow, and her veins continued to blow, so they couldn't get an IV in her. But they were having ultrasound come in to do it. She wasn't able to drink either, but they did get another line in her so they could continue the antibiotics. The last time we talked to her today, we told her we were coming up to see her, and she was coming home tomorrow. She said she was glad and she loved us. We told her we loved her too. Then she died about an hour later.

She didn't have life insurance, and she was on a fixed income, so she didn't have the money for a funeral service. Her daughter and I don't have the money either. That's why I started a GoFundMe for Sylvia's funeral expenses. We want to have her cremated with services. It's approximately between 3500 to 5500 dollars. Sylvia will be missed and loved very much by many. We have to contact a funeral home, but we can't do that till morning. I looked online to get prices, and they said it ranges between 3500 and 5500 dollars. It would be very appreciated for the help in this time of need.