Nicholas passed away on January 30th and his memorial was on February 12th. As far as what happened, it will likely leave you with more questions than answers.</p>
<p>He was walking to class that morning with a friend when he suddenly collapsed. He started to have a seizure. By the time paramedics got there his heart had already stopped and they could not restart it.
As of yet, we do not have a cause of death.

There will never be enough words in the English language to describe and explain the kind of person that Nicholas was and what he meant to all of us. Nevertheless, in the following passages you will find letters from Nicholas’ parents and siblings that explain, in the fewest of words, who he was to them, what he made them feel, and what they wish they could tell him now. Once again, this is the smallest of things that can be said about Nicholas Andrew Chavez-Rhodes, but it is a start and he will be missed.</p>
<p>From Dad (Robert):
Nicholas was always more quiet than loud. Although he may have seemed shy he made many friends in many places, many states, many cities. If you can say you were a friend of Nicholas, then you were his family. He would say what he thought and was honest with people. But he also understood people’s feelings and would let you know that.</p>
<p>Family games and board games were something he always enjoyed. I think we must have owned every classic board game, as well as every new game invented, we tried them all. He liked the challenge and the pure fun of being together and playing a game. Doing things together was always something that was expected. Family dinners, holidays, birthdays, outings to museums, parks, live concerts, stage plays. Nicholas liked doing things with family and friends.</p>
<p>The perfect popcorn was just one of his many pursuits in the kitchen. He worked on perfecting the taste, flavor and presentation of many foods, but when it came to popcorn he would seek out ingredients and techniques to re-create movie theater quality and other variations always looking for taste and texture. Our kitchen was a laboratory. With creativity and skill many wonderful memories were made there.
Reading books. As a family we read the entire Harry Potter series together, then the Narnia series, and then Nicholas went on to Eragon and others. Always looking for new books and authors that would take a person to faraway places and ideas.</p>
<p>From early video games Nicholas was a part of the Pokemon revolution and never left it. He participated in the Pokemon universe on every system and it was always with him. Final Fantasy was another that he enjoyed and played all the way through the latest version.</p>
<p>Academically Nicholas always worked very hard to do well in any class and subject he was in. He took great care with every assignment, test, anything that needed to be done he wanted to do it very well. We realized very early in his life that he wanted to learn and do well. And he always did.</p>
<p>Whenever I think of Nicholas these things are always there: Pokemon, Neopets, Subeta, Final Fantasy, Playstation, WII, Mario Brothers, Sponge Bob, K-Pop, Nintendo 3DS. Creative people: Guillermo Del Toro, Paolini, Rowling. Food: Sushi, Korean BBQ, Little Tokyo, Koreatown. And, of course, a future filled with travel, adventure, learning and success.</p>
<p>From Mom (Elba): To Nicholas
First of all I want to say that you are forever in my heart and in my soul. I am broken because you left without me telling you how much I love you. I would take every part of me to know that it would make your life easier. I don&;t understand what happened but I would like to tell you that it&;s ok, that you can go in peace. I will never let you go but you can be in peace. When you were born, I was blessed for having you. Thank you for the years you shared with me.</p>
<p>There is no true love than that of a parent and child. There is only unconditional love and hope between a parent and child. I carried you for nine months and you blessed my life by choosing me to be your mom. We had bad times and good times. Life wasn&;t always fair but I am always here for you. I gave you tears and worries and for that I will always regret, but I want to believe that you know that my love for you was and is pure.</p>
<p>A star was born bright and strong the day you came into my life. You will forever be in my heart and I know that you have taken a part of my heart and soul. I want to continue life wanting to make you so proud of me.</p>
<p>If someone would say to me that this is what the outcome would be, I would do it all again. Knowing you, being a part of you is one of the most wonderful things that I have done in my life.
You will always be my Nicholas, my son, a part of me. I love you. I can&;t say goodbye because I know that somewhere in space and time we will be together again.</p>
<p>From sister (Mercedes):
I have two older brothers; this will always be true. There will never be a world, where Nicholas no longer exists. How could there be? I will always leave a space in between Marcos and I, because that is where Nicholas will always stand. I will spend the rest of my life trying to fill the void in my heart that is meant for him, and I know that I will never be successful.</p>
<p>I don’t think Nicholas and I ever said ‘I love you’ to each other, but, I hope, that we both knew it was there. During some of the hardest times in my life, while my family suffered through multiple hardships, I endured it all with my brother. When mom and dad needed to be taken care of, Nicholas and I did the grocery shopping together and we made dinner together and we looked out for each other. Silently, without needing to say anything at all, we fell together and held each other up. I felt that Nicholas was the one and only person in my entire life that I could count on to be there forever, even if we fought so much that it was unbearable, he would go on forever. Mom, Dad, and Marcos, they’re mere mortals who live too recklessly; I have already prepared myself for the end of their days. But not Nicholas, never Nicholas. He is so careful, beautiful, smart, how in the world could he ever be in danger?
One of my favorite topics to discuss, that I could never talk about with anyone except for Nicholas, was religion and philosophy. To put it simply, Nicholas and I concluded that neither of us believed in the existence of a God, heaven, or hell. We never got as far as discussing what could possibly come after death, and I know that everyone has their own beliefs and their own way of dealing with loss, but let me tell you mine.</p>
<p>I simply believe that there is nothing after death, it is a final parting of ways. I cannot feel my brother’s ethereal presence in the wind and the trees, the sad truth is that the world keeps turning. Perhaps I am wrong and we will all meet again in an eternal paradise and play family night board games together and playhide-and-seek in the dark during the summer nights, forever. Or perhaps, Nicholas has been reborn and his soul and beauty is now roaming this earth inside of the most beautiful cat the world has ever seen. Or possibly, if there is nothing after all of this, many, many years after you and I, and everyone we now has turned to dust and ashes, and after this earth and our solar system has met its end, maybe,
somehow, the atoms that make up Nicholas and my family can find each other in space and we can become a part of the same star. Then we can shine and burn bright for many more years to come and the pieces of us will always find a way back to each other.</p>
<p>From brother (Marcos):
I love you. We are going to miss you.