Below Deck's Nico Scholly Shares a Touching Tribute to His "Hero" Brother
"Not a day goes by I don't think about this guy here," the #BelowDeck yachtie said.
Nico Scholly's brother Tristen Scholly suddenly passed away at the age of 21 last November. But Tristen will always be in Nico's heart and mind.
As the one-year anniversary of Tristen's passing approaches, Nico paid tribute to his late brother on Instagram Friday. "Crazy how fast this years gone but not a day goes by I don't think about this guy here. I wear his ink proudly everyday," Nico wrote. "Coming up almost to one year is a pretty scary thought but grateful for my brother being a hero."
The Below Deck yachtie honored his brother's life by getting a new tattoo sleeve featuring clasped hands holding a dog tag necklace, a bird and a rose earlier this year.
Nico is also honoring his brother's legacy with the Tristen Scott Foundation. He and his family launched the organization in an effort to help families whose loved ones donated organs. Tristen's organs were donated after he suffered brain damage after accidentally falling three stories off a balcony and hitting his head last November.
The Tristen Scott Foundation held its first fundraising event in May. "When we were going through that process, we didn't really have anyone to walk us through and be on a personal level with us as we were going through that. So it was a really hard time for our family," Nico, who was also inspired to register as an organ donor, previously told The Daily Dish. "So we decided to create a foundation in his name, the Tristen Scott Foundation. Our goal is to raise awareness for people about being an organ donor and then also [help] out families in any way possible that we can [to] be on that personal level and create that connection that we didn't have."
In addition to growing the Tristen Scott Foundation, Nico has also focused on spending time with his family in the months following his brother's passing. "The first few months were very, very difficult. It was a little bit too hard for me to be in Chicago, so I actually left for a few months, but just being in yachting and away from my family, you realize what's important in life. Sometimes it takes unfortunately losing someone like that to realize what is important," Nico shared with The Daily Dish in May. "We're doing a lot better. We're holding up. We're all just kind of being a part of the foundation as much as possible because that's helping every single one of us out."
We'll catch up more with Nico when Below Deck returns on Tuesday, September 5 at 9/8c. Find out what else he's been up to since last season, below.
