Nikolas Wolf Knight Life Celebration
A vibrant zest for life
Tuesday, May 29
7:00 p.m.
Bala Cynwyd Middle School
510 Bryn Mawr Ave, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
Join our community of family, friends, neighbors and caring acquaintances to join together on Tuesday, May 29 in an evening of love and celebration for Nikolas Wolf Knight, the boy with a vibrant zest for life. This is an open event for all ages.
Volunteers are coming together to create the details of the evening event as well as a Memorial Project called 1HumanKind, an interactive, multimedia ‘magazine’ conversation celebrating diverse families that make up our community.
Please share this information with others and contact the following people if you wish to volunteer to help on either the 1HumanKind memorial project or the Nikolas Wolf Knight Life Celebration event.
- Volunteer to help with Nik’s Life Celebration: nhccdir33@gmail.com (Debra Asay)
- Volunteer to contribute food for Nik’s Live Celebration: https://www.PerfectPotluck.com/PJNK2484 or contact corinnabowser@gmail.com (Corinna Bowser)
- Volunteer to help with 1HumanKind Memorial Project: ckraft@jacobsmgt.com (Cari Kraft)
Thank you and we look forward an evening of family and friends for Nik’s Life Celebration on May 29. Please RSVP to nhccdir33@gmail.com or to the evite.
Family and Friends of the Knights
If you want to be appraised of Memorial Plans for Nikolas Wolf Knight, which will occur in 2018, please add your name, email and phone number here:
Gifts and Dedication
After pondering the many ways to memorialize Nikolas, our family would find joy in co-creating an interactive, multimedia ‘magazine’ conversation celebrating diverse families called 1HumanKind. Please volunteer to support us in production – platform, publisher connections, article development, expanding reach, etcetera or you may make a gift donation to support its production.
Nikolas’ family invites you to share your favorite “Nik Knight” quote, story, or memory:
What You can Do
Losing a child – especially a 14-year old – is considered one of the most devastating experiences a family can go through. Friends have asked me how they should behave and here are a few suggestions for interactions:
- Condolences (definition – an expression of compassion, especially on the occasion of a death): Offer “Our/My condolences” rather than saying “I’m sorry.” The Knight’s appreciate compassion rather than pity.
- Compassion: We have actively fought cancer for a year and Nikolas was not feeling well for several months prior. We have faced Nikolas’ death on multiple occasions yet he always pulled through. Nonetheless, Nikolas’ death is a shock to the family.
- What you can do: Offer your friendship and love
- Share a memory such as a funny or remarkable instance.
- Stay connected – Be an active friend
- Offer to be available and actively reach out to connect with members of the Knight family to do things.
- Come up with something to do from taking walks, to lunch, to trips. In the companionship, will come the conversations.
- Family time is OK – Socializing with other families with similar aged children is OK. Remember, Katryana is still a child, and Summer wants to be part of the children’s lives growing up. Invite the Knight Family to get out and they can always choose to decline if it’s not the right time in their grief cycle. Better to invite.
- It’s the long-term that is more challenging for families rather than the short-term. From my past grief experience, it’s not the days and weeks, but rather the months, holidays that will be the most painful.
- Talk less
- Since it’s unlikely that you have lost a 14-year old child to cancer, you probably don’t have sage advice that would reduce the family’s suffering. Your words probably cannot help and could inadvertently cause pain.
- Don’t be afraid of the quiet moments or compelled to fill those moments with idle chitchat. Nikolas and Summer spent hours next to each other, enjoying each others company, not needing to talk, but just to hang out.
- Don’t tell the family how they must feel (“I know you must feel terrible.”) as Grief has many emotions and can cycle for months to years.
- Avoid clichés such as: at least he is no longer suffering, everything will be ok, at least you are back with the other children, be strong.
Nikolas Wolf Knight died Wednesday, November 29th
in Summer’s arms lovingly cared for by his family.
Memorial
Nikolas Wolf Knight is an amazing human being. Through him, we love endlessly and laugh joyfully. A characteristic that always struck me was his level of compassion and how even as a young teenager, he openly shared kindness towards others. Other characteristics I admired in him:
- Loyalty to family & friends – His loyalty to his mother, his siblings, and his friends are deeper than anyone I’ve met.
- Appreciative – He grasped the fact that we worked for our position in life and showed it by his willingness to help as an active family member. Nikolas appreciated our family openly sharing gratitude about how we found each other around the world to become a forever family, for our home, our sustenance, candy and his belongings. Interestingly, he did not choose to own many items – soccer equipment, a few sports balls, family board games, a skateboard, and a few momentos of where we have traveled or intricate items he built – because he was more interested in sharing experiences.
- Experiences – Nikolas valued full force living. He prized experiences over stuff and loved to explore and play.
- Competitiveness – Nikolas was naturally athletic and exuberantly competitive. On the field or court, a switch would go off in his head and winning became Nik’s focus. That’s when he was at his best and… and sometimes most challenging.
- Active – Even a bit compulsive at times. He ran or skateboarded everywhere. Mix that with growing “gangliness” regularly led to a glass of milk being spilled during most meals or dishes broken (we were proud of our eclectic set of dishes 😉
As his mother, I am grateful for:
- Experiencing the loyalty and unequivocal depth of Nikolas’ love
- Growing our family with Nikolas and Katryana joining us
- Called “Super Mommy” and knowing he meant it
- To have given myself the permission and ability to spend the past year side-by-side with Nikolas, getting to know him at a level few parents will ever know their children, communicating on issues few people will ever delve to the depths to know each other
- Learning of Nikolas’ dreams for the future – to make positive impact in the world; to be a solid family member, husband, father, brother, cousin, son; to experience the world
- Being Nikolas’ battle partner as we took on that monster together
- Shepherding Nikolas and the rest of our dear family – Katryana, Liam, Josue, Jochy – and being privileged to celebrate their successes with them
- Gratitude that even though shortened, I have been honored to be Nikolas Wolf Knight’s mother. Thankful for the gift of our time together.
Summer, Nikolas Wolf Knight’s “Super Mommy”