A fighter to the end: Muhammad Ali’s daughter reveals that her father’s heart kept beating for 30 MINUTES after all his organs failed
The daughter of icon Muhammad Ali has taken to social media to share with the world how he was a fighter up until the very end.
The boxing legend died on Friday at age 74 in a Phoenix-area hospital at 9.10pm from septic shock ‘due to unspecified natural causes,’ family spokesman Bob Gunnell announced on Saturday during an afternoon press conference.
Gunnell revealed that Ali actually was hospitalized since Monday suffering from respiratory issues, as he battled Parkinson’s disease for 32 years.
He shared that it was a ‘very solemn’ time when the boxer’s family came together to say their final goodbyes.
Gunnell said the family is planning to hold a private funeral on Thursday for the icon, and that a public funeral will be held on Friday in Louisville, Kentucky at the KFC Yum! Center starting at 2pm.
Former President Bill Clinton, Bryant Gumbel and Billy Crystal will be giving eulogies, as the champion had previously requested.
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Legendary: Muhammad Ali (pictured) died age 74 in a Phoenix-area hospital on Friday at 9.10pm in a Phoenix-area hospital from septic shock ‘due to unspecified natural causes’
Solemn: The family’s spokesman, Bob Gunnell (above), said at a press conference Saturday afternoon that it was a ‘very solemn’ time when the boxer’s family came together to say their final goodbyes
Fighter: Hana Ali wrote the above message on Twitter about how her father’s heart kept beating for 30 minutes after all of his organs had failed
Humble: After his death she shared the above photo to Instagram with her iconic father and wrote that he was a ‘humble mountain.’ She declared in the post that he was the love of her life
Sweet: In another sweet image, Hana shared a childhood photo (above) of her father giving her a kiss when she was a young toddler
Gunnel also revealed that the three-time world heavyweight champion fighter did not suffer at the time of his death and said that he wanted people of all walks of life to be able to attend his funeral because he was a citizen of the world.
Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer announced that the city will hold a memorial for the boxing legend on Saturday morning.
Since the time of his death, his daughter Hana Ali has shared a few touching tributes to her father that provide an inside look as to how he was as a family man.
On Saturday, she took to Twitter and wrote how happy her family is that her father is ‘free,’ but shared how he fought until the very end and thanked people for their support.
‘Our hearts are literally hurting. But We are so happy daddy is free now. We all tried to stay strong and whispered in his ear, ‘You can go now. We will be okay. We love. Thank you. You can go back to God now.’
‘All of us were around him hugging and kissing him and holding his hands, chanting the Islamic prayer
Tribute: Hana also shared a black and white photo (above) of the champion with his arm raised as he’s being interviewed after what appears to be a fight
‘All of his organs failed but his HEART wouldn’t stop beating. For 30 minutes…his heart just keep (sic) beating.
‘No one had ever seen anything like it. A true testament to the strength of his Spirit and Will!
‘Thank you for all for your love and support!!!’
Hana Ali, who is the author of his autobiography, The Soul of a Butterfly and More Than a Hero Life Lessons from Ali, also shared several photos of her him to Instagram.
In one sweet snap, she is pictured smiling next to him as he holds a chocolate bar and gazes warmly into the camera.
‘Our father was a ‘Humble Mountain!’ And now he has gone home to God,’ she captioned the photo.
‘Pray for the peace of his beautiful soul and for the happiness of his further journey.
‘God bless you daddy. YOU ARE THE LOVE OF MY LIFE!’
In another picture she posted to Instagram, it shows him giving her a gentle kiss when she was a child.
Intimate: Many of the photos on her Instagram page show the boxer in intimate moments with his family. Above is a snap of Hana riding on her father’s shoulders as a toddler in 1979
Smiles: It appears that Hana and her father had a strong relationship as she has shared a number of heartwarming photos with him throughout her social media accounts
Hana Ali also shared a black and white photo of the champion with his arm raised as he’s being interviewed after what appears to be a fight.
Many of the photos on her Instagram page show the boxer in intimate moments with his family and provide context to his relationship with her and other family members.
The legend’s other daughter, Rasheda Ali, also took to social media and said that her father is ‘the Greatest Man that ever lived.’
‘Daddy my best friend & my Hero,’ she tweeted. ‘You R no longer suffering & now in a better place.’
The three-time heavy weight champion of the world is survived by his fourth wife, Lonnie, and his nine children, including seven girls and two boys and a brother named Rahman Ali.
Also on Saturday, President Barack Obama released a powerful tribute to his hero and thanked him for ‘gracing our time.’
In a joint statement, the US leader and the First Lady remembered the icon as a man who ‘helped us get used to the America we recognize today’.
Daddy’s girls: Ali with his daughter’s Laila (left) and Hana (right) at his birthday party in January
Bond: The boxer’s brother, Rahman Ali is pictured above on Saturday greeting visitor and well wishers outside of their childhood home in Louisville, Kentucky
Brothers: Rahman Ali is the only sibling to the legendary boxer. He is pictured above inside their childhood home and museum in Kentucky
Ali became such an inspiration to Obama that a photo of the boxer standing triumphantly over a floored Sonny Liston hung in his office when he was campaigning to become Illinois senator in 2004.
The president’s former Chief Strategist David Axelrod shared a poignant image of the as yet unknown politician hard at work underneath the image of his hero.
Obama wrote Saturday: ‘Muhammad Ali was The Greatest. Period. If you just asked him, he’d tell you.
‘But what made The Champ the greatest – what truly separated him from everyone else – is that everyone else would tell you pretty much the same thing.
‘Like everyone else on the planet, Michelle and I mourn his passing. But we’re also grateful to God for how fortunate we are to have known him… for how fortunate we all are that The Greatest chose to grace our time.’
