Three weeks before his death, I was racing to bring my father to Texas to fight for his life. Now I’m asking for help honoring the life we fought so hard to preserve.
Three weeks…
That was how close I was to relocating my father Anthony Steward, from St. Louis to Texas.
We were racing against a clock.
My father had lived with serious, long-term health problems for years. In March 2026, he was diagnosed with Stage D heart failure and renal failure. His doctors told us that without a heart transplant, he could have approximately six months to a year to live.
So we didn’t have time to waste.
We were working toward getting him to Texas, where he could receive the specialized medical care he needed and hopefully become eligible for a heart and kidney transplant.
I wasn’t simply trying to move my father closer to me.
We were trying to save his life.
I was three weeks away from relocating him when everything changed.
My father died.
The man I was preparing to bring to Texas so we could fight for more time was suddenly someone I was preparing to bury.
Because of his long-term medical conditions, my father was unable to obtain life insurance. There was no policy waiting to help cover the cost of laying him to rest.
Our family came together and did what we could to give him the funeral he deserved. Family members contributed, I contributed, and some expenses had to be covered through borrowed funds to make sure everything could be handled during an incredibly difficult and time-sensitive period.
But there are still financial obligations left from his funeral, and I want to help resolve them.
This Loss Is Bigger Than My Father’s Death
My mother was killed by a drunk driver in 2010.
My father and I buried her together.
Then, in 2023, my brother died suddenly from a brain aneurysm.
My father and I lived through that loss together too.
We stood on the same side of grief, trying to understand how our family could keep losing people we loved.
And now, in 2026, my father is gone too.
The man who stood beside me when we buried my mother.
The man who stood beside me when we lost my brother.
Is now the person I am burying.
Three devastating losses.
Three different circumstances.
And somehow, I am still here trying to figure out how to keep going.
My father’s death has reopened every one of those wounds—not only because I lost my father, but because I lost one of the last people who understood those losses from the same place I did.
He remembered the family we came from.
He cherished my mother.
He loved my brother.
He lived through those losses with me.
Now he is gone too.
And while I am surrounded by people who love me, I have also found myself experiencing a kind of loneliness that is difficult to explain.
I am grieving my father.
I am grieving my mother and brother all over again.
I am grieving complicated relationships within my own family.
I am grieving the distance between myself and my young adult children as two of them navigate college life, and one of them serves our country in the United States Air force
And I am navigating this season without a life partner beside me to help carry the weight.
There are moments when I look around and honestly wonder:
Where the hell is my family?
I don’t say that for sympathy.
I say it because it is the truth.
For months, I was focused on keeping my father alive.
Now I’m learning how to live without him.
Why I Am Asking for $15,000
I am hoping to raise $15,000 to honor my father’s life, help resolve the remaining financial burden from his funeral, provide him with a permanent memorial, and give me a small amount of room to begin recovering and rebuilding after this loss.
$5,000 — Outstanding Funeral Expenses
Our family came together to make sure my father could be laid to rest with dignity. Family members contributed, I contributed, and some expenses had to be covered through borrowed funds.
I want to help resolve the remaining financial obligation from his funeral so that the people who stepped up for my father are not left carrying that burden.
$6,000 — Headstone and Permanent Memorial
I want my father to have a beautiful, lasting memorial that honors his life and gives our family a place to return to, remember him, and tell future generations who he was.
$4,000 — Grief, Recovery & Rebuilding
This portion will give me a little room to breathe after months of living in survival mode.
I want to take a short restorative trip—not to escape my grief, but to create some space away from the constant responsibilities surrounding it.
I also want to begin writing.
Because I am realizing that my father’s story is only one chapter of a much larger story.
A story about a mother killed by a drunk driver.
A brother taken suddenly by a brain aneurysm.
A father who fought serious illness and, in the end, didn’t get the transplant we were racing toward.
A daughter trying to navigate motherhood and complicated family relationships.
A woman trying to understand what it means to lose the people who anchored her.
And a person who is now asking herself:
What do I do with all of this pain?
I don’t want it to be for nothing.
I want to turn these experiences into something meaningful. I want to write about grief, family, motherhood, loss, loneliness, resilience, and what happens when you realize you have spent your life being strong for everyone else and suddenly need someone to be strong for you.
Maybe the story I write someday will help someone else realize that they aren’t crazy for feeling the way they feel.
Maybe it will help someone who is grieving a person they can never get back—or grieving a relationship with someone who is still alive.
Maybe it will simply remind someone that they are not alone.
If You Can Help
I know $15,000 is a significant goal.
Asking for help is difficult for me because I have spent so much of my life being the person who figures things out, takes care of things, shows up, and keeps moving—even when I am hurting.
But right now, I need help.
If you can contribute, thank you.
If you can share this campaign, thank you.
If you cannot give financially but can send a prayer, a message, or simply help me tell this story, that matters too.
Three weeks before my father’s death, I was racing to get him to Texas so we could fight for his life.
Now I am asking for help honoring the life we fought so hard to preserve.
I couldn’t save my father.
But I can make sure he is remembered.
And maybe, in the process, I can find a way to save something in myself.
Thank you for helping me honor my father and find my way forward.
— Tara
