Too write this is so hard to do, especially thinking of who we lost and who is left behind.

My nieces lost their father yesterday to his tremendous battle of diabetes. His daughters, my nieces are adult children, but his one is merely an adult. She lived the life of not only his daughter but his caregiver. When my sister and brother in law divorced a few years back my niece chose to live with her father. (My other niece would go on to live with her Grandmother) Her father was her world, her biggest fan in life, and so was she to him. The downside of that was with being his daughter and just the two of them together, he came with a lot of health issues that would require him to be in and out of the hospital, and when he was not in there, he would need someone at home to help with his care. That became my youngest niece.

That would look like this; she would come home from school and cook and straighten up while also doing homework. As time went on the diabetes had taken its toll to my brother in law Lenny and he had lost toes and had wounds on his legs and hands and had surgeries, from open heart surgery to his feet and hands. My nieces days at the young age of 14-15 years old became a father’s caregiver with wrapping and cleaning those wounds. She did this out of pure love for her father. She never faltered or complained she just did it all. She became daughter when days were good and he could get around, housewife when he had dialysis and was drained but needed to be fed, and then caregiver when wounds were there or surgeries performed, she was it all, but yet so young.

I’m writing this today, as her fan her Daddy has passed and she is left at 19 with their living expenses. Lenny had been on disability for a couple years and financially they had enough to live but they had expenses like all of us. My niece graduated high school and for the first year out she would take care of her father and work at the nearby Dunkin’ Donuts, trying to help out financially where she could. Although that was not what Lenny wanted her to do. He wanted her to go to college and live a life she deserved to live. Be the kid she didn’t get to be while in high school.

This year was that moment. My niece was able to get some assistance with school and she finally knew what she wanted to be in her adult life. That is a Teacher. So she started her journey only this September. Meanwhile as she started that my brother in law took a turn in his health. You see you can only be on dialysis so long and here he was already coming up on 13 years and was not a candidate for a kidney. So other things started happening, one being infections. Lenny went into the hospital in September and ended up having 2 major surgeries. While in there he also started getting a bed sore. This sore and the 2 surgeries he had, the infection due to the severe diabetes was not healing. Several rounds of antibiotics and staying at the hospital, he now had become septic and in ICU. Giving a glimpse of hope to his children they moved their father to a regular floor because his vitals were good. However in that same week his body would no longer react to the dialysis and they would now go from that regular floor to talking hospice.

His daughter my niece who was now finally going to school and just this past Monday had landed a job in a daycare where she felt would help her achieve her teaching goal, would now be answering the questions, What are you going to do? Where are you going to live? Do you want your father to be comfortable? What will you do with his belongings? How will you go to school, or start this job on Monday? How will you pay for the rent? Or your utilities? What will you do with the car you drive but it’s in his name with payments? This young girl my niece once again doesn’t get to be a kid and enjoy education and work a mere part time job. She instead has decisions to make and tough ones that a kid at 19 shouldn’t have to make. Her father was in his 50’s and was sick practically forever. His little girl couldn’t be just a little girl.

I’m not asking to help us as his family to make her rich, but to buy her some time to figure out what she needs to do. I would love for her to have a couple months rent to get through a couple months that maybe she can figure a schedule with work and school and provide for herself and maybe stay where she is. She has options but options that take her away from her now life she so badly wants to start.

Anything would help and anything would be definitely appreciated. This kid, this young adult, if you knew her you would love her. She is so sweet and the heart on this kid is just beautiful. She is a rare diamond that needs a chance to live for her now. Her father may be gone but I know this is what he wanted, he wanted to give this kid the path to be what she wanted to be. However even in his living days it was a struggle but he was trying. I so badly want to give her this for him and for her. Pease help me, help her… Give her the opportunity to make choices right now without the financial burden. My brother in law left her what he could as a disabled father on disability, but what he could leave her just isn’t enough.

Sincerely an Aunt who loves her nieces and brother in law who wishes I could give Makayla this alone.