Charlie Daniels’ son, Charlie Daniels, Jr., is speaking out about the heartbreaking final minutes of his father’s life. The only child of Charlie and his wife, Hazel, shared the details of his famous father’s death in a lengthy post on social media the day after Charlie was laid to rest.

“As I sit here, it’s Saturday morning/afternoon, July 11, 2020, the day after we laid my father to rest,” Daniels, Jr. began. “I think it goes without saying, that this has been the worst week of my life, bar none. The man I’ve known for 55 years, who, along with my mom, have always been there for me is gone. We’re still shell-shocked. I know he’s only gone in the physical sense, I have no doubt that at 9:52 AM on Monday morning on July 6th, dad heard ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant,’ and I know that I will see him again.”

Daniels, Jr. recalled the tragic moments when his father first became ill, early in the morning of July 6.

“The emotional roller coaster this week has been overwhelming,” he acknowledged. “It started at 5:45 AM when mom called me crying and said that I needed to get up to their house right now, that dad was sick. My first thoughts were that somehow – despite not having hugged my parents in over 4 months, and any time I had to be in close proximity to them I was masked – dad had gotten infected with COVID-19.

“I quickly drove up to the house and found mom and dad on the upstairs porch and dad was slumped over in his chair, I asked him if he could breathe, he nodded and tried to say yes, but it was obvious that he was very weak,” he continued. “I called 911, and while I was on with them, mom called dad’s cardiologist and he told mom that he thought he was having a stroke which I relayed to the 911 operator. The EMTs arrived and got him to the ambulance, and mom stayed at the house, there was some confusion about if we could ride in the back, or not, and I just wanted to be able to get out and get anything if dad needed it.”

Charlie’s longtime manager, David Corlew, followed Daniels, Jr. close behind the ambulance to the hospital, where Charlie succumbed just a few hours later.

“We arrived and then someone came out to talk with David and I about dad’s condition,” Daniels, Jr. recounted. “It wasn’t good. He told us that dad had a massive stroke, and that because of the blood thinner he was on he wasn’t clotting. Dad had a stroke in 2010 while snowmobiling in Colorado, but made an almost complete recovery, with just a little lingering neuropathy in his fingers on his left hand. But he was still able to perform over 100 dates a year.”

Daniels, Jr. went on to praise his father for his tenacity over the years, calling him a “machine,” and explaining how treatment for the singer’s former stroke is at least partly what made his recent stroke more problematic.

“He was prescribed a blood thinner as part of his treatment, and it probably kept him from having another stroke for 10 years,” Daniels, Jr. said. “That and his pacemaker, and in December of 2018 he had cardiac catheter ablation surgery to improve his heart rhythm, which increased his energy even more. But unfortunately, the blood thinner is what did him in this time. Because his blood wasn’t clotting, the blood kept pouring into his brain stem.

“We asked if there was anything, ANYTHING that could be done,” he added. “He said they could try to reverse the effects of the blood thinner and see if they could stop the bleeding. But by the time the meds kicked in, they weren’t getting any brain activity. Mom had already been summoned, and we said our goodbyes.”

Daniels, Jr. also praised the Country Music Hall of Fame member for all he had done, on and off stage, for the past several decades.

“He was the strongest man I’ve ever known,” the son boasted. “The best father, the best boss, the best friend I could ever ask for. My mom and I miss him terribly. I will share some more of my thoughts of the past week in a couple of days, but I just had to get write some of them down right now.”

Charlie was honored with a star-studded memorial service on Friday, July 10, which included performances by Vince Gill, Travis Tritt, Trace Adkins and Gretchen Wilson. The family asks that donations be made to the Journey Home Project, a foundation Charlie started to help those returning home after serving in the military, in his honor.