Brave Garrett Matthias helped pen his unique obituary before he passed away“See ya later, suckas! — The Great Garrett Underpants.”
A tragic boy, 5, whose cancer was declared terminal in June helped his parents write his unique obituary before he passed away earlier this month.
Garret Matthias, of Des Moines, Iowa, was diagnosed with alveolar fusion negative rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare form of cancer, in September 2017.
Sadly, Garrett died on July 6. But not before the superhero-enthusiast with a unique sense of humour helped his parents plan how his funeral would go.
Garret's Mother, Emilie Matthias, told the Des Moines Register that in the months prior to Garrett’s passing they attended several funerals of other cancer patients, and he was confused as to why funerals were sad.
“He would say, ‘Why are funerals so sad? I’m going to have bouncy houses at mine,” Ms Matthias told the Register.
The mother said she would talk to her son about death following a melancholy movie.
“I’d say things like, ‘When I die, I want to turn into a star,'' she said. “He’d say, ‘I want to be burned like in ‘Thor,’ and then I want to become a gorilla.’”
Matthias said she and her husband decided their son's funeral should be as unique as him, so they asked their son what he wanted.
So Garrett helped his parents write an obituary where he listed things he liked and disliked. He said his favourite colours were “blue and red and black and green” and his favourite superheroes were “Batman and Thor, Iron Man, the Hulk and Cyborg.”
He said he wanted to be a professional boxer when he grew up and that his favourite people were his family. The things he did not like were pants and “dirty stupid cancer.”
“We really tried to use his words, and the way that he talked,” Ms Matthias said. “Garrett was a very unique individual. What I really didn’t want was for his obituary to be ordinary and to have a really sad funeral. We’ve cried oceans of tears for the last nine months.”
Garrett concluded the piece with: “See ya later, suckas! — The Great Garrett Underpants.”
The Des Moines Register reported the boy’s daycare was able to get five bouncy houses for his funeral like he wanted, which took place on Saturday.
A GoFundMe was set up for the Matthias Family that has raised more than $US39,000 as of Friday morning.
