Please Help Mom Get To Her Final Resting Place

Hello my name is LaTrese Smith. On Monday Nov 21st at 11:14 am mst my mother passed away. Friday of the week prior she was found on the floor of her bedroom, on her back unconcious & seizing, cause if death diabetic ketoacidosis & cardiac arrest (DKA). She never recovered from that event. She was unresponsive, went into cardiac arrest once there, & 4 more times at the hospital that day. They were able to stabilize her via life support & medication to keep her heart rate up, but she never came back from the coma. Late Saturday evening they declared her brain dead. They wanted me to fly out to Colorado to make the decision of pulling the plug & donating her organs. It was to be the worst, & hardest decision of my life. I was not able to make it out there until Monday due to the cost of a last min holiday flight. My flight left 1 hour late. She held on to life until I made it into Colorado Springs. Once I arrived in the city, she let go.

Mom was always very protective of me. I am her only child, she was a single parent, & an Army veteran. If she could protect me from something she always would instantly & instinctively. She sacrificed herself for myself & others always.

When I was around 3yrs old, she quit working for a period of time because I had an abusive babysitter. During that time my mother & I had fun with learning. I always wanted to go to school with other kids. We started getting up in the morning to walk to school with some kids in our apartment and get them from school, then we would play until their mom. While they were in school. She taught me how to count to 100, count money (simple counts), read, write, spell, & math. I never went to preschool but I entered kindergarten with the comprehension & capabilities of a 3rd grader. In addition to that she taught me to be compassionate, kind, forgiving, an independent thinkier, polite, strong, etc. She instilled those valuable building blocks into me & they made me who I am today.

When I was about 8 years old my mom sacrificed her health for myself and the children of her friend. We got into a car accident, her head hit and cracked the windshield. Because the injuries that her friend and I sustained where more severe than everyone elses, & because she wanted to make sure all the kids were okay; she refused to be admitted. My mother had an untreated TBI.

When she got older, she got diabetes. An untreated TBI mixed with uncontrolled diabetes caused accelerated dementia & alzhemiers. My mom's personality began to change rapidly and at the end as did her abilities.

Fast forward to Monday the 21st where I was faced with pulling the plug on her and seeing her intubated Even though her cognitive and neurological function had rapidly declined. Her final act of love & protection for me on this earth came from her dying bed. She made the choice for me, leaving this world before I arrived. I didn't have to pull the plug, nor did I have see her intubated, nor did ibhave to hear the machine flat line. I saw her peaceful with aslight smile on her face. That was her love and protection for me.

Due to the nature of her condition my mother did not have life insurance. Many times I have been paying for both her & my living expenses. With COVID, the raising cost of living, & food/medical expenses, the ability to save has been near impossible for me. My mother leaving here was very sudden and unexpected. I need as much help as possible paying for her final expenses. I have already been contacted by the morgue several time requesting that I move her to a funeral home but I dont have the funds for the services needed. Please help me serve and honor my mother as she has so selflessly done for me and others time after time.