Blog Post One- Our Reason
Josue Nain Chaparro Montalvo 01/04/1986-06/23/2022
A wave of sadness and a dark cloud of grief has consumed my family. On June 22, 2022 I saw my brother walk out our front door for the last time as he had come back in for his house key.
On June 23, 2022 he had his appointment scheduled for 10 am with his surgeon. Once 9:30 had come by and my brother wasn’t ready to leave, my mother had gone to his room to call him. My mother in a worried state said he was not in his room or anywhere to be found. After 15 years of being in and out of hospitals, doctor offices and pain management offices, Josue finally had a second chance at a normal life. His second surgery was approaching and his Colon cancer would be removed. The instant thought was that the nerves had come crashing for him and he went out for a walk to clear his head, that he was not ready. You see his surgery team had explained to him that this next surgery would be more painful and the recovery would indeed be harder than the initial colonoscopy. I was present in the appointment where they explained how they would reattach his intestine back in place with his colon after removing the remaining damaged tissue.
A whole hour had gone by and the phone rang with an unknown number. My mom handed the phone over to my older sister Arely for her to translate, the next events that happened are a blur. The woman asked if we knew anyone by the name of Josue Chaparro, my sister responded and let her know it was our older brother. My mom’s worry grew as she understood that the woman had mentioned Josue. The woman continued on introducing herself, her name now forgotten as she said “I am calling from the Clark County Coroner’s Office.” My sister Arely fell back and turned pale as she could no longer speak. The woman continued “-- I am sorry to inform you that your brother was shot and killed this morning, police found him lying on the floor after he was shot 5 times. Once in the head and down his left arm”. I fell back to the news, my sister had begun crying and my mom started to panic, she yelled for my oldest brother Jose to understand what was going on, my sister and I could not say the words out loud as our voices failed to project. It took everything in me to say the following words: “He’s dead, they shot him.” My mom instantly lost control and we had to hold onto her before she fell onto the ground. As time slowed down I had to inform the rest of my siblings and family regarding the news.
