Those are the words of Lou Aurrichio, the grieving father of late Southport Sharks NEAFL player Alex as the “crushed” family finalises plans to watch his Australian memorial before getting the ruckman back to New York.

“It’s a struggle each day, it’s a very difficult time for my family and I,” Lou Aurrichio said from the United States after his 29-year-old son died in a fatal crash with a car while cycling in the Northern Territory on Monday, June 8.

“Alexander meant so much to all of us. We are crushed by this whole thing.

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“Nobody can understand how a kid who brought that much happiness and spirit to everyone’s life could be taken away like this.

“I’ll never delete his number in my phone. We have had people at our home for over a week, our house has been an open house since we lost him.”

A funeral will be held for Aurrichio in Darwin on Monday, June 22, at Saint Mary’s Cathedral and the family hope to have his body on a plane bound for New York that same day.

COVID-19 travel restrictions mean the grieving family won’t be able to attend but Lou Aurrichio said they were hoping to have the funeral live streamed before holding another in the US.

“Between COVID-19, flight availability and also time to get there, it’s just not possible,” a heartbroken Lou Aurrichio said.

“The whole thing is like a 40-hour trip and I can’t put my family through that right now.”

Alex Aurrichio was the fourth born of Lou and Jill’s five children and provided an enormous spark of energy for the entire family.

“He was always happy, no matter what was going on,” Mr Aurrichio said.

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“He would always settle things down and then make everyone laugh.

“He would do it in subtle ways and no matter how crazy things got in a family of seven, he was always the guy who settled things down and made everyone smile. He was unbelievable. “He loved kids too. He loved being with them and in some cases coaching them.

“He was coaching Grade 7 and 8 at soccer for a while when he would come home and spend four or five months here before going back (to Australia).

“Those kids he coached not only loved him but they are all reaching out now.

“He had a special place in his heart for challenged children. He embraced one of the kids’ brothers on the team who was heavily mentally challenged.

“He made him the ball boy and helped him and always had him on the bench.

“When they went to the county championship games and he made sure the kid was on the bench with them and part of the team..”

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Lou and Jill Aurrichio were asleep when they had a knock on the door around midnight last Monday. It was a moment that changed their lives forever.

“My son Michael came to our house and told us,” Aurrichio said.

“It didn’t feel real. He said Alexander’s name, shook his head and had tears in his eyes.

“I said ‘what are you talking about, what do you mean?’

“I had just spoken to (Alex) on Friday night. He was alive with energy and was excited about all the things he was doing.

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“He was telling me to come to Australia again and he would find us a piece of property and build us a house. Nothing was ever a problem for Alexander.

“When COVID hit he got stuck in Darwin. In a way you could say he is a COVID casualty because he should never have been there then.”

Lou Aurrichio said he has been overwhelmed by the response of Australians who had so far helped raise over $166,000 for the family through GoFundMe.

He said he hoped to use part of the money to visit Australia once restrictions ease.