Please help us in this tragic loss of our beloved Rome

Hello, my name is Ivy/Desdemona. My little brother's name was Rome. He was born early March 2005 so he would have been 21 in a little less than a month. I have created this GoFundme for the cremation of my dearly missed and absolutely precious little brother, who has tragically passed away. Some things to know about my little brother before we get started. His favorite movies/shows were Up, Ratatouille, Hello Kitty's Paradise, Tangled, Bee Movie, Wall-E, Spongebob, Edge of Tomorrow, Moana and Tarzan. He loved carbs! His favorite foods were bread, pasta, Mac and Cheese, cereal and sweets. He would have eaten just that every day if we let him. He loved cats, long car rides with loud music and a sing-a-long. As well as some good dance sessions. He loved riding the bus to school with his backpack filled with toys and making friends. Nobody was left out. He made sure absolutely everyone was said "hi!" to. Trips to Walmart or Food Lion were the highlight of Rome's day. He loved to ride his minibike and run around the yard. He would spend hours picking up pinecones and creating a giant pile to throw in the fire later. Nature was his happy place. He loved to hike in the mountains and walk around the neighborhood. He loved to run along the shoreline at the ocean and play in the sand. He was an amazing singer and often treated us to live personal concerts. He usually made up his own words though, on account of him being mostly nonverbal. XD. He was a gamer and his skills were absolutely unmatched. He probably held the world record for most runs and miles on Temple Run. He loved and I mean l o v e d to flood his worlds entirely with water on Minecraft and build stone block houses. He also maxed out every level and skill set on Hill Climb Racing. Rome had many struggles in life that some would consider "setbacks". He was born with a cleft palate, autism and is nonverbal. This did not faze him. He was just like any other baby and kid. He made friends easily. He was widely loved in the community and in his family. He was very intelligent from the start. He had many talents. He kept up well with his peers. Life tried Rome once again when he received a cancer diagnosis as a toddler and went through a year of chemo. He was paralyzed partially and was bound to a wheelchair. Once again, he was not fazed by this and he relearned how to walk. He was right back on the playground yelling "hi!" at everyone and making even more friends. He made it all the way to high school being the cool kid and the talk of the school. He was diagnosed with epilepsy/seizures during high school but stayed energetic. He was the same loving, glowing, funny kid. Whenever people would find out I was his big sister, they poured out their heart about how loved he is. How they see him as a friend and love to be in class with him or say hi in the hallways. Rome's home was not always stable. He once again was unfazed by this and made everywhere a happy place during the multiple transitions we had as children. Every town, home, school and community Rome has ever touched remembers him well and misses him. He didn't have to try. He had the natural ability to be loved deeply and admired. Rome grew into a sweet man who cherished his family. He hated being alone. He loved to sleep in any bed that wasn't his own. He loved to watch tv and movies with us. He loved to eat off our plates and drink our drinks. He loved to prank us and copy us with everything. We used to call him Monkey because he had such a "monkey see monkey do" mentality. His other nicknames were "bird" because he loved to sit in high up places. (perch). As well as the nick name "Bubba" and "Bubby". Rome is survived by his three older sisters, me, Penelope and Reagan. As well as his mother, Trina, his stepdad, Joel and his dad Daekon. As well as aunts, uncles, grandmas, grandpas and cousins.

To get to the reason of this GoFundMe. Rome suffered from seizures for many years. Unfortunately, due to him being nonverbal he could not vocalize his pain or when he was about to seize. He had body language we learned to recognize to help him if we noticed one coming on. To also help, he had a strict diet, medicine around the clock and full time at home family care. (Trigger warning for the rest if you are bothered by death or medical emergencies.) Despite this, one night as he was enjoying some spaghetti he showed signs of severe illness. He threw up, became dizzy and lost ability in his right side. He started to show the usual signs he does before he has a seizure or if he is in pain. Shaking his head no and looking down at the ground trying to fight it off. Our mom rushed him to the ER where we unfortunately found out he had a brain bleed and needed to be rushed to surgery. I thought this would be like every other time Rome had a medical scare. I thought he was going to wake up from surgery and bounce back to his normal self. He always bounced back. Nothing fazed him. He was superhuman to us. An inspiration and a very strong soul. I thought this even more when the doctor said that even an hour later and Rome would have died at home if not brought into surgery. I wish I could say it was like those other times. He unfortunately went into a coma after surgery and had severe brain damage. He was moved to the ICU and we were told that unfortunately not only had he shown zero improvement, but he was only getting worse. Not a single person in my family could believe the fate of this. He was too young. Children should not die before their parents do. I was never supposed to outlive my little brother. He is my little brother. I never foresaw a future in which I would be attending any service for my best friend. My best friend in this whole world. My built-in forever soul who I would trade places with if I could. Although it was hard to accept, our love runs deeper than anything and we listened to the doctors. Rome was said to not improve life support and he would never be the same. There was also a high chance he may never ever wake up. He would never walk, speak, sing, dance or open his eyes again. He had lost his life. My family and I spent the week with him while he slowly passed in the hospital. We watched SpongeBob together and held hands. I am not sure if he knew we were there, but I like to believe he did. He was placed on hospice after it was confirmed that he was in fact dying and this whole thing was very real and very tragic. Just like always, he fought. The doctors did not expect him to make it past a few hours in his condition but he clung on for three days on hospice care. Because of this he was going to be sent to a better facility that was much less clinical than the ICU. During transportation to the facility, he could be more comfortable in; the paramedics were told to flash their lights if Rome passes in the ambulance. The unavoidable end had come. The paramedics flashed on their lights and just like that. My little brother had died. In just one week, he went from his sunshine self to a young soul trapped in a body that no longer worked. He had passed away and there would be no bounce back. No more sunshine. No more memories. He is forever living in our hearts and minds. When he was laying in the bed incapacitated, I saw a little boy who never lost his fight or love for life. That is how I and others will forever remember sweet Rome. The Sunshine boy who loved everything and everyone. The boy who I loved and still love more than I love any single thing in the universe. I see and feel my brother in all things, and that will never change.

After this we are left with memories and the unfortunate bills and unexpected general expenses that come with such a tragic loss. Rome will be cremated and shared among his loved ones. He would have wanted to be everywhere at once. His family is happy knowing we will all have a part of our sunshine boy with us. We are asking for help to cover the cost of his cremation, which is projected at about 3,000 dollars. Please help during the literal most difficult time in our lives. Thank you for reading about our beloved and dearly missed Rome and thank you to all those who will donate, share or both. Thank you to the medical staff who helped us and Rome during this. Lastly, thank you to everyone who loved and cared about Rome. He loved you a lot too.