Dad Went to See Days-Old Daughter in the Hospital So She Wouldn’t Feel ‘Alone.’ He Died in Crash on His Way Home

Dennis Lewis, 35, was so eager to see his newborn daughter that he drove to the Illinois hospital hours ahead of the planned pickup time on Friday, July 18.

He had last seen baby Harley the night before, when his girlfriend, Amberly Trocke, was discharged. But Dennis couldn’t stay away — he wanted to see his daughter again, even if she was coming home later that day.

“He wanted her to know we were there and not be alone,” says Amberly, 30, a customer service specialist, speaking to PEOPLE.

While Dennis visited the hospital, Amberly waited at their Round Lake Beach home with her older daughter, Davina Jade. The plan was for Dennis to return home, and then the three would go together to Highland Park Hospital at 4 p.m. to bring Harley home.

Dennis texted Amberly from the hospital, telling her that Harley had stirred at the sound of his voice — just like she used to move when he spoke during the pregnancy. At 1:39 p.m., he called her and said he was going to grab something to eat before heading back.

He never made it home.

At 2:39 p.m., deputies responded to a collision involving a motorcycle and a semi-truck at a Green Oaks intersection, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.

Witnesses said the motorcyclist, who was traveling west on Route 176 with a green light, collided with a semi-truck that was turning left onto Bradley Road. He was pronounced dead at the scene. Authorities later identified the rider as Dennis Lewis.

The 50-year-old driver of the semi-truck, from McHenry, was not injured and is cooperating with the investigation.

The Lake County Coroner’s Office confirmed Dennis died from “blunt force injuries of the head and neck” sustained in the crash. The investigation remains ongoing.

Just days after giving birth, Amberly is left trying to process her new reality without the man who had become her family’s rock.

“What I love about him is the way he took care of us and protected us,” she says. “I just want, more than anything, for him to be here.”

Back on the day of the crash, Amberly began to worry when Dennis didn’t return. At the scheduled pickup time of 4 p.m., her friend DJ drove her and Davina to the hospital. Along the way, Amberly called local hospitals along Dennis’ route, hoping for answers.

“He was not the kind of person you had to worry about,” she says. “So, I knew in my heart something was wrong.”

On the return drive, Amberly sat in the backseat with Davina and baby Harley when Dennis’s mother called with alarming news: there had been an accident. At first, they didn’t believe it.

When Amberly contacted police, they told her officers would meet her at her home — but wouldn’t say why. That’s when she knew.

“I was just screaming, crying, and I called my mom,” she says. “My [older] daughter is holding her ears, saying her ears hurt, but I couldn’t help it because I was just so upset.”

Later, Amberly learned something heartbreaking — Dennis had planned to propose after Harley was born.

“It just hurts that we didn’t get to finish that part of our life,” she says.

The two had known each other since 2022 but only became a couple about a year ago. “He was made for me,” she says. “We were made for each other.”

Dennis embraced his role as a father figure to Davina, even though she wasn’t biologically his. He had plans to adopt her once she was old enough to understand and choose for herself.

When Amberly became pregnant, Dennis was ecstatic, says his cousin Stephanie Cornell, who saw him at the couple’s baby shower in June. He proudly showed her the nursery he had prepared and Davina’s freshly painted room.

“I’ve never seen him so happy in my whole life than seeing him going to be a father,” says Stephanie.

Her daughter, Brianna Vance, who created a GoFundMe for Dennis’s family, adds, “He was so excited to bring Harley home and to raise her in the home that he and Amberly had put so much love into.”

Since his passing, Amberly has leaned on family to organize Davina’s birthday party — an event Dennis had been looking forward to. The 4-year-old misses him deeply and recently told her mother about a dream she had.

“She told him that she loved him, and he said I love you back,” Amberly says. “She just really misses him so much.”

Meanwhile, Amberly has been in and out of the hospital with Harley, who is experiencing possible gastrointestinal issues that doctors haven’t yet diagnosed.

“I’m looking at our kids and it is just really, really, really hard,” she says.

Even in grief, Amberly says she feels Dennis’s presence.

“Our protector,” she says, “is now protecting us from above.”