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Family Struggling to Raise Money to Bury 12-Year-Old Bushwick Boy

By Serena Dai | January 16, 2015 2:15pm | Updated on January 19, 2015 8:59am
 The family of Christyan Vasquez is trying to raise money to bury him nearby.
Christyan Vasquez
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BUSHWICK — The sudden death of a 12-year-old Bushwick boy has left his family struggling to raise funds for his funeral, as they continue to reel from the death of his father three years earlier.

Christyan Vasquez died at Wyckoff Hospital early last Sunday after waking up to an asthma attack, his family said. The condition had worsened since his father died three years ago.

Christyan's body is still in the morgue as his family tries to raise $8,000 to bury him nearby, where his mother and four brothers and sisters can visit.

The I.S. 347 seventh-grader went to the hospital frequently due to his attacks and nearly died three months ago, but his demeanor and health had improved in the last month, his family said.

The boy, whose family described him as shy but smart, had even started being more social and independent in recent weeks, they said.

"We were cheering for this," said his aunt, Linda Valdiviezo, of his improved attitude. "Before, we had to drive him to school and pick him up. He started being like, 'I can walk myself.'"

It has been a difficult few years for the Vasquez family.

Bolivar Vasquez, who immigrated from Ecuador and worked as a chef, died of a heart attack in 2011 at age 45, leaving the family of five children without a father or someone to pay the bills. Mother Nancy Valdiviezo had stopped working after Christyan was born due to his asthma.

Without the funds to bury Bolivar Vasquez near Bushwick, the family sent his body to Ecuador.

Christyan, who always suffered bad asthma, even stayed home from the funeral for health reasons, said his sister Nancy Vasquez, 17.

He usually kept his feelings to himself, his sister said, but their father's death clearly "hurt him a lot."

"All of us took it very, very bad," Nancy said of Bolivar's death. "[My mom] was in a bad state of mind. That was her first boyfriend, her first marriage, her first love. We came out here and started everything."

With Christyan's death, the family wants to keep him buried near Bushwick, where the boy spent most of his life and where the family can visit his grave.

Christyan loved to read and enjoyed the "Sons of Anarchy" and "Hunger Games" series, often begging his mom to buy him piles of books on trips to Barnes & Noble, his sister said.

He played and watched videos of Minecraft frequently, and he wanted to work with computers and games eventually, his family said.

And though he sometimes missed school due to his illness, he excelled at academics, his family noted.

"He was always the smart one," his sister said.

The family is raising money through a GoFundMe campaign and plans to wait until they have enough to bury him nearby.

"When he goes to the hospital, we don’t expect this happen," his sister Nancy said. "We said, 'We’ll see how you are in a few hours'. We were in complete shock."