Craig Strickland's Widow Shares Details of His Final Hours: 'They Found Him Lying in the Shape of a Cross'

Know what that feels like - my late brother headed out to canoe with a friend on an isolated lake in northern Minnesota - far away from home. Canoeing is not a rational choice for a big lake in an isolated area, but my brother was taking medications for an autoimmune illness that made him feel invincible ... just wish he and his friend - or his wife would have had the common sense to realize just how dangerous and risky that situation was. While they were on the lake, a storm moved in and the waves easily overwhelmed their shallow canoe. The only life jackets they had, were cushions they were sitting on - and were of little value. His friend barely survived - and they did not find my brother's body until several weeks later.

The entire situation was brutally painful ... the waiting and knowing that if they had used better judgement, they never would have been in that situation. It is an extremely tragic and heartbreaking way to lose someone.