Hi everyone,

As many of you know, I lost my best friend and partner suddenly back in December. We spent the last four years of our lives together and he is the reason I am who I am today. We met through my close friend that he served in the military with, in New York. He actually followed me on Instagram for YEARS before we ever actually talked to each other. Haha. From finally talking to each other I went to visit him a few times. Then our story truly began. We moved me and six freaking pets all the way from Colorado to North Carolina when he was stationed at Ft. Bragg. We were only there for about three months before he got orders to Hawaii! We packed up and moved our family to the island. All seven of us.

Since arriving here in Hawaii, we truly grabbed life by the throat and did everything we could to enjoy it. He supported me in so many ways such as allowing me to pursue running my own pet care business full time and becoming a Twitch streamer. Him and Boomer were the best of friends. They would wake up every morning at 4AM and have morning potties and breakfast together until he had to leave for the day. On his off days I woke up to coffee in bed every morning (I'm not much of a morning or breakfast person). He spoiled the heck out of the cats and was always finding new ways for them to enjoy our home. I swear he came home with a new cat tree every other week. He even took incredible precautions to save one of their lives while I was away visiting my family back in Colorado. Without Matthew I would've lost one of my babies.

He made me overcome so many fears. One of which was scuba diving. I was mortified even during the pool trainings we did. During our FIRST dive in the ocean, I ended up getting in an accident and blew both of my ear drums. I wasn't able to finish our certification course because of this. He came back out with me and supported me every step of the way so I could finish my cert. After we had both completed it, we went out often to scuba dive on our own. I will never forget it. We spent a mini vacay on the Big Island and somehow, he convinced me to go night diving with manta rays. I was sobbing the entire 20-minute boat ride out to the dive sight. He was there to always make sure I didn't puss out and again, I will remember that incredible night until I die.

We cooked dinner together every single night.... okay maybe I did but he was always right there in the kitchen learning and literally writing down my recipes in a book. We vouched to cook and eat dinner with a show every night. We spent countless hours watching all the shows you could imagine, and he even got me into anime. It was his favorite thing. So much so that we went to Japan for two and a half weeks. I had never traveled outside of the country. This was just another thing he urged me to do despite my fears. It was the best two and a half weeks of my entire life. I will cherish that time for the rest of my life.

I owe so much to this man, and he was taken from me too soon. I will never doubt the fact that we were meant to be in each other's lives despite the ups and downs. Unfortunately, I lost my car and job recently and have been trying to survive here in Hawaii on my own. I recently received news from his family that he will finally be having his funeral on June 1st, 2024. The funeral will be in Maine where he is from and will be buried alongside his mother and older brother. As you can assume the cost of travel to get all the way to the other side of the country and more is astronomical. I am creating this Go Fund Me in hopes to attend the funeral and hopefully gain some sort of closure. I know time is quickly running out, but I need to be there for not only me but for the person I loved more than anyone. I would need to fly out on May 29th. This fundraiser will help cover roundtrip flight costs, hotel and food. I appreciate all of you. Thank you for taking the time to hear me out. I love you.