On Monday, August 10 my children and I said goodbye to the most important man in our lives. I lost my best friend, my partner, and soul mate. I don’t have the words to express the unbearable pain we are feeling. This tragedy was sudden and will forever pain us. Things will never be the same. I am typically a very private person and don’t share much on social media. But I wanted to honor the love of my life and the father of my three young boys. There was no greater man on this earth; 20 years building us will never be enough. But I am so blessed that we were with him. He was an amazing father and husband. We will honor him forever. We are his protectors and he is ours. Guide us through this life and watch over our boys. I will love you forever and always. Semper Fi.

He was a proud retired Marine Corps Combat Veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan. He suffered from PTSD, physical ailments from his time in the Corps and received 100% disability rating from the VA; but to support his family he got his BA in business and was the sole financial supporter of our little family. I was the homemaker and he made sure we were ok financially. We were together for 20 years and 17 of those were married. After his military retirement we weathered so many financial struggles including homelessness and issues associated with his PTSD. He was only 42, I am 36, and our boys are 15, 13, and 5.

After the Corps and all our struggles, he thankfully found a job at Pratt and Whitney. Where he not only started a second career but found a group of people he proudly called his work family. He loved the people he worked with and he loved his career. We were not left with much since we were just getting on our feet. We were on the path to setup our financial success (e.g. life insurance, 401k) but as they say the best laid plans just don’t often happen. And then tragedy struck. So, we find ourselves here…. needing to ask for help. I don’t want to be in the position of losing our home and our only car. We are grieving and trying to heal while trying to figure out our lives and our finances. I hope not to have to radically change their lives hence the large amount of funds we are trying to raise. Please understand I would rather do anything else. But at the end of the day it is what he would have wanted for us…his family.

We thank you for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers. Even if it is just sharing our story or yours with us and others.