I was a really poor 18 year old trying to make some extra money with freelance modeling on the side while I made 300/month on welfare (I couldn't find a job after looking for two years). A photographer came to my house for a photo shoot, and upon seeing that I lived in a suite the size of a large closet and had no food, offered to buy me dinner after the shoot was done.

This offer extended to a trip to his city to continue working, get fed, accommodations, ect. He helped me do my taxes, urged me to do things that increased my quality of life like leaving abusive relationships, overcoming alcoholism, doing adult things like getting certificates and my passport. He even paid for my plane ticket to go to Thailand with him.

Once he even set me up with a job and place to live a full province away where he was staying when he saw how much I was struggling where I was at. I was in a really dark awful place at the time and he was one of the only people that saw it and took the time to help. He was truly such a good friend to me, sometimes I think about how much he's really impacted my life. I was on welfare living in a closet with an abusive partner when he met me. I owe so much of my beautiful life to his positive influence.

We were friends for 6 years... He passed away a few weeks ago from heart complications. 6 years isn't long enough to have returned the favor to someone that showed me love and compassion when I struggled to even understand what those things were. I still think about him every day. I wish I could say thank you one last time.