In loving memory of William Aiello

There is not enough words to use to describe the emptiness we feel from the loss of my brother Billy. There is nothing in this world that will ever replace the presence he had when he walked in the room. I’m not sure where to start whereas this is one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do. This is our third loss in the matter of seven months. In November our little sister Kelly (21) who had epilepsy passed away due to a seizure and loss of oxygen in the middle of the night. Two weeks later we lost our grandma. My family has been through so much this past year that the loss of my brother has left us feeling completely destroyed. Nobody wants to come home to an empty house that use to be so full of energy. Billy was born July 28th 1990 and passed away on Tuesday June 6th 2021 at 3:58PM due to cardiac arrest and stroke. When I got the call, I was already in my car. Waiting an hour and a half for the nurse to come in, I finally understood she was just waiting for my parents to show up to break the news. I PROMISE that nobody wants to experience sitting in a waiting room just to be told that they had done everything they could but unfortunately was unsuccessful, my brother did not make it, at that moment I truly lost myself, I lost my older sibling, my last sibling, and my first lifelong friend. In this room is sitting me my mom and my dad, you can feel how much smaller our family had gotten, it just didn’t seem like we were all there, And I don’t wish these feelings on anyone, ever. When people try to say that only the strong receive the obstacles , it’s bullshit. We didn’t have a choice, no options, we were forced to go through this and it never gets easier, we just learn to become more adapted. From the beginning billy didn’t get dealt the easiest hand of cards, billy was ten years old around this time, I remember my mom told me that one night my sister was crying so it woke her up only to find Billy in his bed sinking in, dehydrated and just barley able to say “mom, I’m dying” to end up being diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. Up to date billy was on the donor list for a kidney due to stage 4 kidney disease. He was then put on dialysis where he had to hookup to this machine for about 8 hours every night. Dialysis is known to result in a short life and billy was well aware of this, he always mentioned that he knew he wouldn’t live long and we always told him to “stop saying that”. This machine was pretty brutal, I would hear him every morning moaning in agony of pain. Yet bill still always got his ass in his car to get to work, every, single, day, despite the pain he was in.

My father raised Billy all his life but was still close to his birth father. I’m not sure how often he actually got to spend time with his father but I know he loved him unconditionally, his father passed away not too long ago, on top of this Billy would mention how much he missed our sister Kelly and I’m sure he would cry about it but didn’t like to show weakness. I always knew Bill was very well known but I recently learned that In high school he would get suspended often for fighting, it was usually sticking up for someone. Bill had a big heart and received a lot of love back. He was real, he took pride in who he was. Billy wasn’t only a friend, he was a son, a brother, a nephew, a cousin, and most of all he became a father to the most perfect little girl, Olivia. I wish he could have experienced being an uncle, but unfortunately it’ll just be from above. Olivia is going to be 6 years old soon, graduating kindergarten. She was his entire world constantly taking selfies together and going shopping for whatever her little heart desired. Olivia is without a doubt Billy’s twin and if catching her singing “Shout at the devil!” Doesn’t speak for itself idk what does. On a positive note, I couldn’t be more thankful to have her in my life, We need her more than ever , she couldn’t be more of a blessing left behind for us to always remember him by. To Billy; Rest In Peace my brother , you are so extremely loved and missed. You didn’t deserve any of this and you were such an amazing man and father. I’m so sorry I couldn’t take away your pain but I’m relieved that you no longer will be suffering. I’m happy that you get to reunite with your father and our extremely  missed sister. Please, please let me know you are okay, watch over us,  and let it be known because we need the reassurance more than ever. We love you so much and always will!!! Until we meet again