Maureen Maffucci "Mama Maffucci"

Hi, we are the family and friends of Serena and we thank you for taking the time to read our GoFundMe page. Serena is extremely grateful for the overwhelming outpouring of love and support through kind words, cards, and offers to assist. Therefore, we are now providing you with an opportunity to aid Serena in getting through these trying times. Maureen's health condition made her ineligible for life insurance, and Serena is not in a position to cover the funeral expenses that Maureen deserves. Our objective for this GoFundMe is to alleviate financial pressure for Serena as she navigates the coming months. Serena is in need of assistance in pursuing her career advancement, which she had to put on hold due to her mother's health. Please join us in supporting Serena as she moves through life, trying to find her way again and adjust to her new normal without her dear mother, Maureen. We appreciate your love and support in every way possible. We encourage you to read the heartfelt story of the day Serena lost her best friend, greatest supporter, her mother, Maureen.

On the morning of April 8th, 2023, my life changed forever as my beautiful mother Maureen, also my best friend, passed away. I woke up that Saturday morning feeling excited to celebrate Easter early with my mother at the hospital with my friends Candice and Erin. Before going to the hospital, I bought a few special goodies for my mom and my friends. As I arrived at the hospital and checked in with security as I had been doing for the past week and a half, security surprised me by saying, "They aren't ready yet, it'll be a few minutes." I didn't expect what was about to happen next.

Erin and Candice arrived, and security called the nurses' station again. The nurses were not ready for us yet, and then one of my mother's doctors walked through the lobby. He didn't recognize me at first, but he did when I took off my face mask. He then said, "Oh Maffucci, I guess you've been told what's happened." I replied, "No, no one has told me anything." He said, "Your mother went into cardiac arrest this morning. We have her stabilized, but your mother is critically ill."

After this news, security handed us our visitor passes, and we went upstairs to my mother's room. To my shock, my mother was intubated and in a coma. The doctor had not mentioned this downstairs. We spoke to my mother at her bedside, told her we loved her, and that we were there with her. Before I could fully comprehend the situation, we stepped away from my mother's bed to speak to the nurse who told me that they wanted to put a PICC line into my mother's heart, and I would need to sign consent forms. Suddenly, my mother's heart monitor started beeping rapidly, and her heart rate started dropping from 37 to 36 to 35 to 34. We grabbed a nurse, and they announced a rapid response over the intercom to my mother's bed. I became hysterical, and the nurses kindly ushered us to the hallway outside my mother's room and shut the door. Part of me wanted to be there by my mother's side, but Erin said, "You're not going to want to see that."

The hospital staff brought us chairs, water, and tissue boxes. A few minutes later, which seemed like an eternity, a nurse came out to tell me that they had gotten a pulse back and were getting ready to do the PICC line into my mother's heart. I calmed down and felt a moment of peace until they called a rapid response back to my mother's bed again, and the panic came right back to me. I was hysterical, and then the unimaginable happened: they called a CODE BLUE to my mother's room and bed number.

It seemed like an eternity passed, and then the door opened, and my mother's doctor came out. He said, "We've been working on your mother for a while now, and we can't stabilize her. Even if we do, she will be in a vegetative state." I looked at Erin and asked, "What do I do?" The doctor interrupted and said, "It's not about what you can do. I want to call it."

At that moment, I had to do what I never want anyone else to ever have to experience: I had to make the choice to end my mother's life. 

         

I almost can't even finish typing this out as it replays in my head. I have seen moments like this only in movies and TV shows, and I always said to myself, "Wow, I cannot even begin to imagine feeling that pain," as people's loved ones were unexpectedly taken from them in a hospital.

However, as the doctor turned to walk back into my mother's room, my entire world flashed before my eyes.

I collapsed into my chair, uncontrollably howling and screaming at the top of my lungs. As I looked up, Kirsty and Brent, my two other best friends, turned the corner. It's unexplainable how their arrival to the hospital at that very moment was God's timing. He made sure that at the worst moment of my life, I would be surrounded by my best friends to hold my hand. Everything in life happens for a reason, and there is no way I could have made it through that day if I had arrived at the hospital alone.

My mom's health started declining three years ago, and without hesitation, I drove to northern California, brought her to Los Angeles, and moved her into my studio apartment. I didn't know how I would navigate life while becoming my mom's caregiver, but I left it in God's hands. Not only did everything work out amazingly, but we were also blessed with the opportunity to re-bond and spend quality time together that we never had due to a less-than-ideal childhood filled with foster homes and a very troubled home. I turned my mom's health around, and we even managed to reverse her diabetes. I was grateful for every minute we had together, and I never knew just how much we needed each other until God gave us this opportunity to spend these last few years together.

My mom was like a cat; she seemed to have nine lives. Even in her worst health days, she always bounced back. Now I have to learn how to navigate life without my mom.