A day I will never forget. . .

My beautiful mother

Barbara Helen Cervantes

May 16th - October 18, 2003

For many of you who don't know when I was 20 years old my mother passed away. It was the worst day of my life. You only get one mother so cherish her while you have her!

It was a Saturday morning I was sleeping in the living room and woke up to her screaming out to me, I jumped up and ran to her bedroom. She was sitting on the edge of her bed and told me she did not feel good and she thought she was having a heart attack. I ran to the kitchen to get her aspirin and water. She took it. My brother Robert got home and found my blanket tossed across the floor and knew something was not right. He was calling out for me to ask what was going on, so I filled him in. My mother was a very stubborn woman so we gave her 2 options. 1. We call 911 and they take her to the hospital or 2. Robert will drive her to the hospital. She picked #2 so she quickly got ready and Robert rushed her to the hospital.

I then tried to get a hold of all my brothers and my sister to let them know what was going on. Sylvia picked me up and we headed to the hospital. We walked in as they wheeled her passed us, she gave me an unusual smile and waived to us as she said "see you later" (I never thought those 3 words would be the last words I would ever hear my mother speak.) We went up stairs and waited as they ran tests on her. (Boogie was in the Army stationed in Germany, his last day was October 22, 2003 then her was going to tour Europe for ten days and return home) (Sal was stationed in Sacramento) Mondo, Nadia & Lorena (Nadia's older sister) waited with us. A nurse came out and asked for Robert, so he followed her in the room. Apparently they told him that during one of the tests she started having another heart attack and they tried to resuscitate her for an hour. They had Robert tell us. Her cause of death was a massive heart attack.

I was totally devastated when he told us. I fell on the floor and began to sob. I had to jump through hoops to get in touch with Boogie in Germany and had to tell him the news over the phone, it was horrible. I also had to tell Sal and Joe over the phone. When everyone found out they were in disbelief. Our home was filled with family and friend to comfort and console us.

The out pour of support that I received from all my family and friends was greatly appreciated. When something so horrible happens you quickly learn who your true friends are! I loss contact with some dear friends after high school, but when they learned of the new they showed up to support my family & I.

Many people often ask if it gets any better, for me the answer is no because I was so young when she passed away. I think it gets harder! I think if I were older when it happened it would be different.