Hello, my name is Benjamin Shiek. My father, Nicholas, recently passed away. If you knew my father or even heard of him through me, you knew he was incredibly caring and selfless. He only ever did things for the benefit of our family. For the last several years, he was becoming more ill. He would have prolonged hospital stays and come home, wanting to hang out with our pet cat, Punk, and let his two birds fly around his room. He wanted to make spaghetti for his daughter, Nichole, and his two grandchildren, Katerina and Liam. He wanted to know how I was doing in school and see my latest projects, and he was so proud to be at my college graduation. One of the last things he said to me when he could still communicate was "finish school." I knew it was important to him. He wanted to go grocery shopping with my mother, his wife, Sharon, to spend some time with his family. He continued to do things for his family through all his pain and health conditions over the years. His sister, my Aunt Marcella, had told me, "Your father has nine lives," because each instance that he would spend time in the hospital for his various illnesses and conditions, he would come back strong. This time was different. Unfortunately, it was his time.

I know he would not want us to dwell on his passing, and he would not want us to be as sad as we all are. Every time I catch myself crying, I know he would be telling me to quit it because he's not in pain.

With death comes a lot of sadness and despair. To honor my father's death, he wanted to be cremated. My father, unfortunately, did not have life insurance. The Funeral Home has asked for around $1500 to begin a Direct Cremation and additional money to cover Death Certificates (which is about $20 per copy in our city, and we are asking for ten to handle his accounts and assets). Any extra money will go towards an Urn and support for a memorial service that will occur at a later date, planned by our family. I am estimating around $2500 for all of this.

Because I was the only family member living with him at the time of his death, I am taking on the lease of our apartment and taking on the responsibilities of everything that comes with it. Money is extremely tight for me, going from a two-person household to one and raising our cat and two birds alone. My mother, my sister, and our extended family would also contribute, but money is not coming easy now. Anything would help, but to handle the cost of all of these different things, I have started this GoFundMe.

My father has lived a hard life, and I want to honor his wishes and have him cremated. We feel that he deserves that.