East County News Service
May 22, 2024 (Lemon Grove) – A Lemon Grove family’s trip for a family wedding in New Jersey ended in a double tragedy.
Ben Canales has started a fundraiser for his friends, Alex and Amber Gasin of Lemon Grove. The couple went to a Mets baseball game and left their 6-month-old son, Micah, with his grandfather. But a storm passed through that night, causing unimaginable devastation to the family.
“Micah was on his first big trip with his parents visiting his paternal grandparents in New Jersey when he was struck by a falling tree while laying in a hammock with his grandpa. Tragically, both he and his grandfather passed away,” according to Ben Canales, who started a GoFundMe fundraiser to cover funeral and memorial expenses.
The site raised over $47,000, but can never ease the local couple's pain of losing both their baby and his grandfather.
Canales told 10 News, “They're trying to make sense of it … just a big why. Why, how does this happen?” Canales said. “These are two parents with their whole lives ahead off them with their baby boy… In an instant, it was taken away… It will be a lifetime of remembering Micah.”