Today I am honored with this opportunity to speak about my brother Dan and to celebrate his life on this earth.
Who was Dan?

He was a husband to his wife Janet for 30 years, andhad five beautiful children Dan, Brad, Stacy, Becky and Rachael. In addition there is Dan Junior’s wife Andrea, Stacy’s husband Chris, Becky’s boyfriend Leo and Rachael’s boyfriend Austin. He felt so blessed and happy to have these four individuals in his children’s lives. 

 

He was raised by our parents Bill and Roberta and had four siblings Donna, Bob, Rick and me. Looking backon our childhood, we were truly blessed to have parents and grandparents who had set an example on how to love each other, be compassionate to others, honest and hardworking people. 

 

He was also a very loving uncle to ten nieces and nephews.

 

Dan had one of the biggest hearts and loving personalities of anyone I have ever met. Growing up, I recall at a young age Dan had a paper route. My mother did not want him out after dark by himself. She asked me to accompany him as he delivered the papers. As I stood by the street and listened, I started to notice the relationships and rapport he had with his customers. You would have thought he was part of their family. For instance, he washed the kitchen floor for one of his older customers just to help and never expected anything in return. As he got older he worked for a local pharmacy; one of his jobs was delivering prescriptions to customers. They noticed the deliveries were taking little longer than usual. Well Dan was doing what Dan does best, taking the time get to know them and seeing what he could do to help them out. 

 

As I mentioned Dan and Janet had five children. In 1989, Brad was born and lived for 14 days. On his grave stone it reads “14 days of life and a lifetime of joy.” This tragic loss started a search for the answer ofwhy something so terrible could happen. Also, how to cope with such a loss. 

 

In 1998, Dan was asked if he would like to attend a Catholic retreat called Cursillo. He accepted the offer not knowing at the time he would start to receive the answers to the questions of why Brad, why us and how to come to terms with such a great loss. Well God revealed himself to Dan that weekend in a way that would forever change his life.

 

After he lived his weekend I could see the happiness and peace he had in him. I couldn’t understand what he had experienced. He was literally floating around our office. He asked me several times to attend the weekend. I finally said yes and it changed my life forever. I was raised Catholic, but never truly understood my Catholic faith. So I am forever grateful to Dan for nudging me along the way. He also sponsored many of our family members, friends and clients.

 

Just as he was a young man with a paper route and working at the pharmacy, as an adult he continued loving and caring for everyone he met. One of our clients he sponsored for the retreat had been fighting cancer for many years of her life. We remodeled and decorated the majority of her house except for her bedroom. She was diagnosed with cancer once again. Dan wanted to surprise her and redo the bedroom to lift her spirits. Even though money was tight, he worked nights at her home and redecorated her room. When she came home from the hospital she was shocked and cried. It made her so happy. He stood beside her and helped her through this difficult time in her life until she finally went home.  

 

You see, as young boy Dan felt a calling to reach out and to be compassionate to people. As an adult armed with the understanding of his faith, he would be able to deal with the difficult times he would face. He faced the loss of a business and ended up working at Home Depot. He said, “God has a plan for me. I’m here for a reason.” In a short period of time, he won over the hearts of his coworkers and helped some of them through difficult times. 

 

Then he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The night before surgery he laid in the hospital bed and prayed the rosary, not for himself but for a coworker who had issues at home. He prayed that God would touch that person in a way that they knew they were not alone. After finishing the rosary, his phone rang. It was his coworker telling him for the first time in years they felt the need to drop down on their knees and pray to Godfor help. Dan told me he didn’t need the prayers because God had it, either way he would be fine.

 

In the following four years Dan started a blog andshared his journey with all the challenges he faced emotionally, physically and spiritually. He showed us his human battle with cancer hoping he could help someone else. As he always said, “God still has me here for a reason.”

 

On a light side, Dan had a funny sense of humor, sometimes you could say even silly! As I mentioned growing up and eventually working with one anotherwe probably made the three stooges look serious. He had a way of coming up with names for family members that would be a playful insult. He would send a quick text, make a quick phone call, or kind of slip the insult into conversation and enjoy the reaction he would get. This sense of humor was with Dan to the end. 

 

This is a prayer I sent to Dan the day after Christmas:

“Lord Jesus, your coming in the flesh to ransom us from slavery to sin, gives us cause for great rejoicing even in the midst of trials and pain. Help me to patiently and joyfully accept the hardships, adversities, and persecution which come my way in serving you. Strengthen my faith and give me courage that I may not shrink back from doing your will” . . . I believe this prayer summarizes how Dan lived his life on this earth.  

 

I’m thankful that God gave me Dan as a brother, and Dan for giving us Janet and their children. Dan had written once that he always wanted to be more like me. Today, I hope I can be more like him. One thing I know, Dan was never a rich man monetarily, but he was rich with the love of family and friends. He simply stored up his treasures in Heaven not on this earth!  

 

I would like to thank all our family members and friends for standing by Dan from the beginning when he received his diagnoses, for staying in contact withhim on a regular basis, and for the all the love, prayers and support you gave him along the way.

 

I pray that someday we will all be reunited again withDan, and our family members and friends who have gone before us.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

It is with heavy hearts that I let you all know that my dad (fazzaa) Daniel Riley passed away today Thursday March 23rd 2017 at 5:34pm. He passed peacefully in his sleep surrounded by his loving family. Words can’t properly describe the sense of loss that we all feel in our hearts right now. It has been a very long 5 years for all of us and my dad was an angel through it all. He lived each and every day with lots of grace, love, faith, and of course, humor. 
He was one of the most positive people I know right up til the end. The last time he was able to speak he told me that he was doing ‘excellent.’ He never complained. He fought so hard. He found beauty in every day, in every situation and in every moment. He traversed his life, and his illness with such grace. He made friends everywhere he went, and reached out and helped so many people (many of which were other cancer patients). It’s unbelievable how many people he helped despite his illness and left side disability. 
My dad was, and forever will be an inspiration to us all. I’m honored to have been able to call him my dearest friend and father.
Please also check out my dad’s blog, which was one of his main vessels for helping others! He wrote as often as he possibly could, and focused his posts on his life, faith, love, and happiness. http://www.justdannyspeaks.com 
Please feel free to share your favorite memories with my dad either in the comments for this post or directly on my dad’s Facebook wall. 

Thanks so much for your support, 

Love, Janet, Dan (Dj), Stacy, Becky, Rachael, and family

Dear Friends,
As you know, Dan has been battling brain cancer for the past five years now. He has been in hospice three and a half months now since the beginning of December. He started out at home but, after having a seizure at our home on New Years Eve, he was no longer able to stay at home. He and I reside at a hospice home where he has full time 24/7 care. I can’t say enough about how great the care is here and how loving and caring the staff and volunteers are here. They are all amazing people.

For the past several weeks, I’ve been receiving private messages and I have seen that several of you have posted messages on Dan’s wall sending our family blessings and well wishes. We are grateful for both. Many have expressed how much they miss his blog and others have asked if he will blog again soon. 

First of all, we would like to thank all of you for following his blog and thank you also for the blessings and well wishes. We are truly blessed with much love and support from so many family and friends. I can’t thank you enough!!!

I wish I had better news but, unfortunately, Dan is much too weak to continue with his blog. He is completely bedridden now and has been for about a month. He sleeps almost all the time now and has lost his appetite. It is very sad and so difficult to see this happening to such an amazing and caring man who is loved by so many. Even those last two blogs that went out were actually previous blogs that I found in his notes so we posted them. He would ask (a while back) for his iPad but, would just put it down and go to sleep. He wanted to write but, just didn’t have the energy. 

I’m sorry that Dan’s blog seemed to end so abruptly. I know many of you looked forward to reading it. Dan had no intention to ever stop writing. The blog was his passion. The disease took over and weakened him to the point where he could no longer write. I want you all to know that Dan loved every minute that he spent putting his blog together and choosing the appropriate music to go with it. He put so much pride into it as he had done with everything all of his life. It was very special to him because in his mind, this was his job. He wanted to help people and he wanted people to keep the faith and never give up as he never has throughout this horrific disease. He wanted you all to know that no matter what, you should always stay positive and be good to others because life is too short. He always said stay focused and follow Jesus. This is Dan’s message to everyone he meets.

God puts angels on this earth who go to heaven once their job is done here on earth. When I say “angels”, I’m referring to good people. A hospice employee once told me that when her grandchildren ask what she does for work, she tells them that she helps angels go to heaven. I thought that was a beautiful description of what hospice is all about.

We all have a purpose in this life so remember to cherish each moment and never take life for granted and always treat others how you would like others to treat you. 

God Bless You,

Love, Janet