Money is being raised to help the family of a U.S. Marine veteran who collapsed and died from the heat during this summer’s record-breaking heat wave in the Tri-Cities.
Money will be used to help pay for the memorial service of Sean Aaberg, 38, of Richland, the immediate expenses of his family and the future expenses of their 3-year-old son.
“Anything will help the family in this time of need. Semper Fidelis,” says the GoFundMe account posted by a friend who knew him through his military service.
Aaberg was the main income provider for his household after his girlfriend returned to school.
“He loved with his whole heart and had so many dreams and aspirations,” posted Amanda Linck-Flores on social media.
“Unfortunately his time serving his country resulted in wounds that could not be seen by the naked eye,” she said. He had a 100% disability rating through the Veterans Administration, she said.
Other friends said he shared a home with his girlfriend, but they had argued and he had been staying in his car for several days before he died Aug. 1.
But Linck-Flores, a friend of Aaberg’s girlfriend, said he had not been taking his PTSD medication and for the safety of the children in his home needed to leave until he was doing better.
He collapsed in the late afternoon heat on the 1500 block of Thayer Drive in Richland, a residential neighborhood, and died.
It was nine days into the heat wave that baked the Tri-Cities with temperatures as high as 112.
Friends said Aaberg had post traumatic stress disorder after serving in the Middle East. He was assigned to a helicopter squadron.
Linck-Flores posted to social media that he was in a “fight or flight” mental state when he died.
He had gone to a hospital earlier in the day, but panicked and left the hospital against medical advice.
As of Wednesday morning, nearly $4,200 had been raised in donations.
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