On Tuesday, January 6, 2026, it was an ordinary day. I went to work and while Echo kept to himself, he was still alert. The following day, he was gone. 

On Wednesday, January 7, I was grating cheese in the kitchen before leaving for work and our boy loved cheese. He didn't come for any. My sister dropped me off at work and ran some errands, then she called and my heart stopped: Echo didn't want to move. 

I called around my heart sinking and finally found a place to take him. I told her to go and I would call our friend to get there and not to worry about the money, we would figure it out later. 

I called and they dropped everything, coming to get me. By the time we got to the hospital, he was pale and cold. The doctor told us we could risk surgery (less than 50% of a survival rate) or prepare him for end of life. 

After discussing it, we decided the nicest and best thing to do was to be there when we put him to sleep. He was surrounded by love and family until the end. He was my brave boye, with his beautiful eyeliner. 

We got the bill and we went into debt because of it. Last year, we had a life or death situation with one of our other residents and a friend stepped in to save her life. We, unfortunately, couldn't do that with our boy Echo. 

We are asking for $2000 to cover end of care: $1400 to the kindest friend who stepped in, $400 to cover the portion I covered, $100 to cover any fees from the platform, and the rest of the $100 for his mother to make him an urn from scratch which includes materials, tools, and other things.

We will be building a shrine to him in our home and knowing he's safe with Freyja and not in pain gives us little comfort as we miss him so much. 

Run free beloved Echo and know you are loved. So very loved, my son.