<\/p>\n
The first time she asked me, her voice barely rose above the hospital monitors: I\u2019m Mike, fifty\u2011eight, a tattooed biker with the Defenders Motorcycle Club. We read to kids with cancer so they never have to fight alone. Most kids warm up eventually\u2014Amara, room 432, did immediately.<\/p>\n A nurse warned me: no family, stage four neuroblastoma. CPS would take her if she survived. I walked in with a book. She smiled and whispered, \u201cYou\u2019re really big.\u201d Minutes later, she asked if I had kids. I told her about my daughter Sarah, who died at sixteen. Then she said: I said yes.<\/p>\n From then on, I visited daily. My club brought gifts and made her an honorary Defender. Her room filled with warmth and life. Even as her strength faded, she always reached for my hand. One night she whispered, \u201cI mattered to someone. I had a daddy.\u201d I told her she\u2019d be my daughter forever.<\/p>\n When she passed, I held her hand. Her memorial drew over two hundred bikers. She was buried beside Sarah. Her headstone reads: Four years later, I still visit her. The hospital started Defender Dads<\/strong>, volunteers who comfort children with no one else.<\/p>\n Amara didn\u2019t just ask me to be her daddy until she died. The first time she asked me, her voice barely rose above the hospital monitors:\u201cMr. Mike\u2026 would you be my daddy until I die?\u201dSeven years old. Pale, hair gone, tubes everywhere\u2014but hopeful. I\u2019m Mike, fifty\u2011eight, a tattooed biker with the Defenders Motorcycle Club. We read to kids with cancer so they never have to fight …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10099,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10098","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10098"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10098\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10100,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10098\/revisions\/10100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/10099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifevibesever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cMr. Mike\u2026 would you be my daddy until I die?\u201d<\/strong>
Seven years old. Pale, hair gone, tubes everywhere\u2014but hopeful.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always wanted a daddy. Maybe we could help each other.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n
\u201cFearless Amara. Beloved Daughter.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n
She made me a father again.
She saved me.
And she will always be my daughter.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"