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Naya Dorothy Aprile was a force of Nature. Every morning or I should say afternoon (she stayed up so so very late) , she would shoot herself back into life like a very energetic comet.  I called her Naya Maya for the obvious reason that it rhymes, but more so because the word MAYA has the rarely known definition of meaning a dreamlike illusion. It was my pet name for her- just as we all have for those closest to us.

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I dedicate this tribute to Naya to the people that it means the most to and need to accept that she fought for you and that includes myself.

Kimberly- because she loved you so hard and she was truly your sister. Come back to the people that love you unconditionallyy plz? You have the kindest soul and there has been so much pain. If you cant do it for yourself at the moment- I get it. Then do it for Naya? Noone ever stopped loving you. We are broken without you.

Kashmir- You are the absolutely best mom any person could ask for. Watching you grow our children has been humbeling. People need to learn from you because you are the kindest and most involved mom anyone could ever ask for. That was clearly evident that whenever there was a crisis with Naya- you were spot on and spent countless hours preserving her. And you are truly the best thing that ever happened in my life.

Justin- Because YOU ARE OUR WARRIOR now.

Boogie- You are the magical young man that will slay all dragons. You are truly “Peter PaN”

Maria- The bravest of the brave. You fight the good fight. I am humbled and incredibly proud of you. You have the true heart of kindness that my mom danced around but could never find that light- and that seems to be a blurry concept for me to recognize in the mirror. Even tho we both know that it has always been there.

Naya- You reminded of us of one thing for sure: Words are cheap- actions speak.

Douglas- You stepped up and won’t let Kashmir die alone- For that I am truly grateful.

Brayden- You were her true love and I watched you stand up for her many times. That day we went to the beach and later to that Restauraunt in Lexington was a beautiful day.

Jaylene- You were her best friend in PH. You also fought for her. Your voice was the last voice she ever spoke to,

Frank Aprile- Give yourself grace and accept the love others offer- at least give it a shot and learn how to accept something you never felt you earned or deserved.

I keep crossing the”t”s and dotting the “i”s- I keep writing because i am so afraid that when I stop- her life disappears and becomes some stupid picture or a side note on Electric Bike Safety. The bike didn’t kill her. The lack of her understanding the difference between a a 2-way road versus a 2 lane one directional road did. That’s something we need to adress to keep our children safe. If we are going to sell electric bikes to people, I think it would be a good idea to make sure that our children are educated as to the rules of the road. She was too young to recognize that.

Frank Aprile- Her Father

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There are truly are no words to describe the day-to-day interactions each of us always experienced when it came to spending time with this beautiful and aggresively honest young soul. –

Unlike Forrest Gump’s version of life- In her world it wasn’t “Life is a box of choclates.. you never know what you are gonna get…” cuz we always knew what we were about to get… Naya- RAW and UNFILTERD 🙂

I would trade anything to un-die her and give her back the shot at life that she deserved.

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Naya 2.0:

The Port Huron version: A kick in the ass- and better be ready when she starts messing with you about contradictions and her favorite term: “You’re switching up Dad”. That was always painful cuz most of the time she was spot on. She was on me like a TIC on a Blood Hound. But everytime, the way she said DAD- that melted all my bullshit. She took me further down the road of self honesty than anyone else in my life. That’s why I call her the bravest soul I have met. She knew my bark was far less worse than my bite- in her case she might as well have handed me dentures and said “hey Dad- you wanna try these and see how that works for you?

She made my Life matter even when there wasnt any sort of Joy in my life. I contined on autopilot when it bacame obvious I needed to readjust to her standards and use my ability to allow people into my Life…

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She was a combination of the Tasmanian Devil and Bambi’s Thumper all put together in one very robust personality. It is those qualities that I remember the most.

Settle Down There THUMPER 🙂

Her most human of all traits that are human, was her fierce loyalty to her family first, and to those she chose to love. Now I really didn’t care what other people thought of her choices, because when it came to her closest friends- and ultimately the person that she gave her love to and that loved her the most? She made the right choices. Not always on the first go-around but eventually she found her mate.

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That would be her boyfriend Brayden who she fought for pretty much like a honey badger or a wolverine. I was happy for her- kinda felt bad for Brayden 🙂

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Braden stayed at our house for about three weeks, because he was homeless not due to anything else other than some hard times that had fallen upon his family.  She fought for Brayen like no other I’ve ever seen, and ultimately in her death she faced it with the honor of having been totally selfless and giving the gift of a home and reprieve to a young man she would never see again, and a home that she would never return to.

Naya is that hero that we go to the movies for. Naya is the bravest individual I’ve ever encountered. And in her last four months, she was off her medication, and I am very glad about that. I told her that I needed her to be able to feel pain so that she would know what love was. To be angry so that she could recognize kindness, to make mistakes so she could understand forgiveness.

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I know it was difficult for Naya, but at the same time I watched her self-confidence grow, and even though everything was painful and hard, she made me a better person, and take a hard look at my own priorities. I loved my girl and I’m so grateful that our family was once again a family together in Port Huron for a week.

The last week was basically her last week with us the people that she loved. And it was a good week for which I’m so grateful for.

God bless you Naya Maya.  You left this world knowing you were loved.

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That was the thing she wanted the most, to be loved.

God takes those he loves. But he waited a few months to allow Naya the simple gift she most needed. She left this world knowing the feeling that she was a prize for someone, that she made a difference, and that she was truly loved.

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Naya:

We ALL Love You! Kimberly. Justin, A’Brehn, Mom, Douglas, Dad, Maria, Charlotte, Nathan, Granny, Aunt Katie, Aunt Jenny, Jeff & Betsy, Brayden, Jaylene, Gianni, Amy, Sedgewik, Kevin, Samantha, Terrah, Kristy, John S, Chet C, Valerie, Bethany, Matt, Marissa, Scott, Faoud, James M, Amanda, Olivia, Karra, Tracy, Drez, the Clown Car Crew, Superman, Allayne, Brenda, Marrissa, Scott, Mahender, Tim, Ross, Beth W, Bryan L, Karen Ann, Angela, Rachel, Don L, David B, Paul B. And so many more that pray for you.

These are all the people that you have brought together to honor your life Naya Maya 🙂

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Reactions:

Dear Governor. My 15 year old daughter was killed in a head on collision with a car while she was on her Ebike.

She died instantly this last Monday night on July 28 at 11:17 pm in Port huron Michigan. It was a very hard hit- she went airborne, and according to witnesses- she died Instantly.

I work in Cardiac medicine. and when the police arrived to inform me- they asked me to sit down, and at that point I realized that my daughter was dead.

I would like to be the tip of the spear to help create legislation requiring underage childre to have a license to operate these electric bikes that are very very fast.

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Please Click on Image Below to to Donate for E-Bike Safety

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I want to Commend:

Officer Travis Reed, A Sergeant in the field who sat me down to deliver the bad news.

Seargeant Reed’s backup Female Officer: that was so kind and incredible with her compassion.

The Trauma Surgeon: For her clinical honesty and her obvioud devotionfor Human life-

The Entire Team – Lake Huron Medical Center

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