Thread by @humansofny

(1/11) “I wasn’t going to do a half-ass ceremony. You know: drive-by, no hugging, ten feet apart kinda thing. Not for my sister. Even if that meant waiting until this COVID bullshit was solid. I chose the anniversary of her death: August 29th. There had been so much love..."

(2/11) “I still have the stub for the first Knicks game I ever went to. I was ten years old. We blew out the Miami Heat that night, and I was hooked. I decided then that I was going to be the biggest Knicks fan in the entire world. Not the second biggest. The biggest..."

(3/11) “Gianna was born August 16th, 1999. My mom sobered up and moved into an apartment down the street. Oh My God, it was incredible. She’s coming to my basketball games and cross country meets. My friends thought she was so cool..."

(4/11) “There was a two year stretch where we didn’t even see our mom. Of course it hurt. But we just kept on livin’. There was always something to look forward to: when’s the next Knicks game, when’s the draft, when’s free agency. For G it was when’s the next dinner..."

(5/11) “That was the day my life changed forever. They did the brain test. And it came back brain cancer. Fucking brain cancer. My ten-year old sister. It didn’t seem real. Nothing seemed real. Suddenly my life became the worst movie ever. They checked G into the hospital..."

(6/11) “One night before she got sick I took G to see the Jonas Brothers at The Garden. We had last row seats. But it didn’t matter. I was going to every single Knicks game by then, so I had mad connections. We ended up watching the whole show by the stage. Next to us..."

(7/11) “Every morning G and I played ‘Time after Time’ while she cooked us breakfast. That was our song. I have the lyrics tattooed on my arm. Because that’s what G and I did-- we caught each other, time after time. She did the cooking and laundry. I drove uber ten hours a day.."

(8/11) “A few days after the surgery G started talking. The whole left side of her body was paralyzed, but she was talking. And I’m pretty sure that’s the first time I ever cried in front of her. The doctors did an MRI on her brain to see if the cancer was back..."

(9/11) “Our mother came to the hospital maybe twice. I was getting on her, hard. I’d say: ‘You need to fucking be with her. I’ll pay for the uber. Just go.’ But she had no clue. She kept saying: ‘Calm down, Anthony. She’s going to be fine.’ It’s like: ‘No she’s fucking not'..."

(10/11) “We made it until her birthday. And that was a big deal. G never said it, but getting there was a big deal. This kid had looked death in the eye at the age of ten. She should have been gone. But she became an adult. And maybe that was our gift. Maybe the whole time..."

(11/11) “She’s in my dreams six nights a week. Usually we’re just chilling: in the car, or watching tv on the couch. I’ll be like: ‘What’s up G?’ And she’ll be like: ‘What’s up Ant?’ Afterwards I’ll wake up, and lie in bed for a bit. Not believing that I just woke up..."