Funeral Expenses

Dear friends and family, I'm reaching out to you today with a heavy heart to ask for your support. As many of you know, my dad Robert "Bob" Meakins recently passed away. Unfortunately, we were not prepared for the financial burden that comes with funeral costs, flights, & hotels for his kids, brothers, and parents. He was a true servant to the Bee county community and surrounding areas. He was in law enforcement since 1999 with 20 years in corrections prior and had no intention of retiring anytime soon. He was a loving and giving man & Im going to miss him for the rest of my life.

Any amount you can contribute would mean the world to us. We appreciate your love and support during this difficult time.

Robert "Bob" Meakins

EOW 06/20/2023

UPDATE:

This may be a long post everyone. I hit my wall earlier today. I had been up for for several long hours with everything that had happened and then attempting to start working on preparations for Dad. I just want to let everyone know what happened with my father in an attempt to bring peace and some kind of closure in the knowledge of "why" or "how"

My father had been feeling sick recently. If you do not know, Dad had a major heart attack back in 2018. During this time he received 2 stints to help regulate and increase blood flow within his heart. After this procedure, pops was suppose to take it easy, but as you all know, the job and helping people was his life. He wanted to get right back to work and helping the community. So after taking minimal time needed to return to work, he was right back at doing what he love, helping the citizens of Bee County and anyone who might need assistance.

Sometime during 2019/2020, Dad had a knee surgery on his right leg. He had both knees with severe damage and major difficulty walking, yet again, he continued to do his job and wouldn't slow down. He would tell me that if he could get his knees fixed, he would be better able to perform his job and help the people. After this procedure Dad was suppose to be taking blood thinners to help the circulation of blood flow within his body, however he either wasn't prescribed or wasn't taking them as needed.

Skip forward to 2021 when Dad went back into the hospital because of a major blood clot that had formed. We think this may have happened from his knee surgery but there is no way for sure of knowing. At this time Dad had a procedure done where they were able to remove a large clot in his upper chest area by his heart. I think this was when I kept a large majority of everyone informed per my Dad's wishes. It was another close call and again Dad could only think about how long he would be out of work and wanted to get back to serving the community.

Now towards the present. Dad had been feeling ill for awhile, aches, pains, symptoms of flu, even having had covid at one point. Back in January of this year 2023, Dad became ill and needed to go to the ER because of blood in his urine, vomit, and stool. We went to the hospital and they informed him of a G.I. Bleed and was worried that pops would have a potential to bleed out. We were able to get the situation under control, and guess what, Dad went back to work.

Over the next few months Dad continued to work his regular job as a Deputy and would work several hours of overtime for the Bee County's operations including StoneGarden and Borderstar, two grant funded operations to help deter the flow of illegal activity coming from the border. He also worked several off duty jobs including providing security for the schools of Skidmore, Pettus, and Pawnee. Pops would feel ill throughout these months but would hide it as he didn't want anyone worrying about him. I should have been better and more aggressive in making him get himself looked at, but if you knew my Dad you knew how much he wanted to help others and not have anyone worry about him.

Back in the end of May, Dad went to the National Narcotics conference they hold yearly where handlers train and compete with narcotic dogs throughout the nation. Dad had been telling me for months how he wanted to go and he was going to go even if he paid everything himself. The Beeville Police Association along with Susan Dirks sponsored by father to go and train and compete. Dad had been feeling sink for several months and even the days leading up to the conference was vomiting and not being able to eat, but he still went. Driving 16 hrs both ways to Tennessee along with another officer from the Beeville Police Department. I know this wasn't easy on Dad and my father had severely poor circulation in his legs on the compounded issues already with the knee surgery.

When Dad got back I was informed just how bad his health had been while in Tennessee and reached out to him. He promised me that he would get himself seen and later in the night was when he called me. It sounded like he was having a heart attack and I rushed to his home. Pops would be taken here to the ER where we found out that he was having organ failure in his kidneys and heart. Dad was flown to San Antonio where we stayed the next 13 days. During this time we were informed that Dad had congested heart failure and kidney failure along with little to no circulation in his legs. Doctors were able to bring Dad's kidneys back up to 100, however Dad was in severe pain in his legs from the lack of blood flow and circulation. Doctors told me that he was going to require an amputation of his right leg however they were unable to perform any surgeries because of his heart. Once his heart doctor was back at the hospital, Dad was prepped for another heart lab to relook at all the pressure. He had the procedure once already when he first arrived but due to the vast problems at the time the Doctors weren't going to proceed and instead let Dad's levels get higher before moving forward. After being there for so long Dad was prepped yesterday for a routine procedure. During it, we discovered his levels hadn't improved and Dad still had 2 of this 3 major arteries blocked or providing no flow. The Doctors again were going to pull out and get Dad's level's higher before proceeding. During the end of the procedure there was a complication that arose and the last major artery that was providing blood flow was shut off, causing Dad to go into cardiac arrest. They tried several times to bring him back by shocking him, but his heart just couldn't take it and he passed away on the table.

I was suppose to take care of my father. I was suppose to be the one to make sure he got better, and I couldn't do that. The last words I said to him were "I'll see you in two hours, I love you' as they took him away to the lab. I'm so sorry to everyone. I lost my best friend yesterday. And I don't know if I did the right thing in pushing for the procedure. Dad was in so much pain while at the hospital and I know that he just wanted to come back to work. He loved everyone so much and just wanted to get back to doing what he loved. I hope one day to be 1/10th the officer my dad was, and 1/100th of the man and father he was.

Hopefully this answers questions some had about what happened. Dad didn't want anyone to worry and didn't want me posting. I'm so sorry for keeping everyone in the dark.

I'll share more information for the coming services that will be held next week. Thank everyone for the wishes. I love you Dad, with all my heart, and I miss you so so much.