Honoring our Mother Sara's Memory with a Beautiful Goodbye

Everyday when me or my siblings would come home, we would walk straight to our beautiful mother and kiss her on the cheek. The moment she heard our voice or felt our touch her face would light up with the most gorgeous smile and instantly it felt like nothing else mattered.

Unfortunately, we will never be able to do that again as she passed away unexpectedly in the hospital on August 31st at 11:50pm. A time that our family will never forget. Her name was Sara Hernandez and she was just 65 years old. She was the best mother anyone could ask for and gave us everything, even when she had nothing.

In June she began feeling ill and near the end of the month she began complaining of chest pain. We took her to the emergency room, where we were told she was having a heart attack. She received a stent which stopped the heart attack, however, her heart and lungs became weak. She was placed on a ventilator as well as a feeding tube, but the doctors didn't expect her to make a recovery and constantly suggested end of life care. But we refused to give up on her because we knew how badly she wanted to live. She fought hard to stay with us, taking it one day at a time for a little over 2 months. We stayed right there next to her, every morning and every night, asking the nurses and doctors how she was doing, what is next, and what we could do to help. We pointed out numerous concerning things that they didn't pick up on and fought hard to get her the help she needed. Against all odds, she began slowly recovering and required less help from the ventilator. But due to the multiple tubes and weak immune system, she was constantly fighting infections that caused her pain and made it difficult to remain positive. Still she continued to stay strong and show us how badly she wanted to stay. She learned to speak around the breathing tube on her own , reposition herself, and would call our names, ask for things, and have small conversations regarding memories and current events. With all the signs of life she was showing, none of us could imagine that things would go downhill so quickly. On the evening of Friday the 30th she was talking and moving like she has been and her vitals were normal. But at 5am Saturday the 31st, we received a call that she was taken to the ICU. The doctor told us it was due to continuously low blood pressure and fever, but later another doctor told us it was due to vomit entering her lungs. She continued to speak and move while in the ICU and her blood pressure was slowly rising. We had to head home for the night, but later received a call around 10pm stating that she was doing better and that they had figured out what the issue was and were treating it. We thought she was going to be okay and that the doctors had it under control. However, around 10:40 we received a call that she was doing worse and immediately headed to the hospital. After a last ditch effort of a blood transfusion, her heart suddenly stopped at 11:17pm. We arrived as CPR was being administered, along with multiple epinephrine shots, and, finally, a defibrillator. They tried for nearly 50 minutes and revived her twice. Sadly, her heart stopped forever at 11:50pm. She was pronounced dead, but we were not given a reason for her death. One doctor told us her blood pressure dropped too low and her heart simply gave out while another doctor said he believed it was internal bleeding but not sure where. We can't go on questioning what happened to our sweet mother, so we are looking into an autopsy. We have so many unanswered questions such as: What was the true cause of death? If she had internal bleeding, why didn't they not catch it sooner? How was there so much liquid in her lungs? How could she be doing so well and then suddenly leave us? We felt this way we can know exactly what happened to our mom.

Anyone who met my mother would say she was kind, beautiful, funny, caring, and the life of the party. A heart of gold. She touched anyone who came into her life. But to her husband, 7 children and doggy, she was their whole world. Her beautiful soul was far too good for this world and planning her funeral was something we never thought we would have to do so soon. Any help is greatly appreciated, we just want our mom to have the beautiful goodbye and peaceful resting place that she deserves.

This would cover funeral and autopsy costs mainly. We know we will also have to handle her medical bills. We as a family are also doing other things to help raise more money so we can be sure our mom is memorialized and honored in the way she deserves.