“I was 23 weeks pregnant when Ari was born. She was a micro preemie, and weighed just 1 pound, 4 ounces. Because her lungs were very premature she couldn’t breathe on her own, so she was intubated. Then they did a trach, and then a G-button for feeding. She was in the hospital for a year and a month.

“When we were finally able to bring her home, she was on a ventilator 24 hours a day. They taught us how to change her trach and her G-button. They prepared us for emergencies, like if we had to give her CPR.

“There have been some scary moments. I’ve seen her heart rate go down to 25, where she’s turning purple and blue, her eyes rolling backward because she couldn’t breathe, and you think she’s already gone. She’s been in and out of the hospital, sometimes days, sometimes weeks. But she keeps bouncing back.

“Healthwise, she’s doing really well right now. She’s not on the ventilator. They’re talking about taking out the trach maybe next summer. That would be awesome. That would be a big, big step for her.

“She still has a long way to go. She just learned how to walk about a year ago. She still doesn’t speak. She still has to learn how to eat orally. She’s actually scared to eat. So she has to go to occupational therapy, physical therapy, eating therapy, speech therapy.

“She also was diagnosed with autism. She’s not used to big crowds, and loud noises scare her. She gets over-stimulated. So we keep her at home most of the time, especially right now with cold and flu season.

“She mostly watches Ms. Rachel, who does sing-along songs and teaches things like ABCs. It’s her favorite character. Although she just turned 5, her brain development is like a 2-year-old. She still doesn’t really know how to play with toys. She mostly just throws them because she doesn’t understand.

“It’s been a long journey. My mom, my sister, our close friends, they have been there for us throughout everything. And most of all, God has been there for us.

“There are moments when your faith is put to the test, when there are things you don’t understand. But I was told at a certain hospital that I should go ahead and just disconnect her. Because she was never going to have a normal life. That she was going to be bed-bound. Like, why would I want her to suffer? But we kept our faith. And with everybody just being there for us, that’s what’s kept us going.

“My hope for her? I definitely want her to be able to eat one day. For her to have that experience of sitting down to enjoy an actual meal. And I would love for her to speak. I would love, love to hear her call me mama.”

— Myriam Mejia

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“My husband and I used to work in the refineries, and we made two decent paychecks. But they didn’t last for anything. We struggled buying diapers and formula. So it started with asking people to donate things like that for moms and dads and grandparents taking care of young kids. Now it’s grown to all sorts of food items and necessities. And the response has been great. The community is showing they really care. Whatever goes in the box belongs to whoever grabs it, whoever needs it. A lady across the street says it helps her every single day to feed her kids and have diapers for them. That’s what it’s all about. It’s made an impression on my kids, too. They get excited seeing people drop off stuff, and they have a better appreciation for those needing help.

“There are times when we all just sit down and cry. We really miss our little girl. But through this whole experience, I feel like we’ve gotten so much closer to God. I hope nobody else has to go through what we’ve gone through. I hope I bear all the burden and all the hurt and all the sorrow and all the grief for any other mother. Maybe this is not the testimony that I wanted, but I feel like this is going to help somebody else later on down the road.”

— Roxanna Castillo

The Alicia’s Blessings box is located at 1003 E. James in Baytown. It’s available 24/7 for drop-offs and pickups.

Roxanna also wants to highlight the importance of water safety for young children. A great resource is Teresa Rising, who we featured in a story several years ago. She’s a certified master instructor with Infant Swimming Resource’s Self-Rescue program.

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“When Jordan was in elementary school, she raised over $1,000 for the American Heart Association. It was through the Jump Rope for Heart activity. She was the top fundraiser in her school. Based on that, and as someone who shows initiative and good character, she was nominated as a Teen of Impact for our area.

“She’s competing with seven other kids in the Houston area. She gets to run her own campaign. She picked team members, like family and friends, and she’ll be doing events and asking for donations to support the American Heart Association.

“It’s important to her and to our family. My dad had a stroke and then open-heart surgery before he passed. His brother, my uncle, died in his sleep from heart disease. They were both pretty young, still in their 50s. So we have a history of that in our family, and that kind of encouraged Jordan to want to raise money in memory of her papa, David Mourer, and her uncle, Chris.

“It’s also an opportunity for her to do something that a lot of kids her age don’t get to do. She’s 13 and is in seventh grade at Cedar Bayou. And she’s very excited to be doing something that kind of feels adult. Something that can really make a difference in people’s lives.”

— Abbey Mourer

Jordan is active in theater at school, and enjoys playing softball and doing crafts. If you would like to support her campaign, learn more on her Teen of Impact page.

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“My first experiences with sexism were within my own family.

“I’m the only girl. I have five brothers. I had a Christian upbringing. I’m still a Christian. But my father would use the Bible to kind of diminish my voice. He would say, ‘In the Bible it says that women need to be silent.’ Like the woman is the more fragile being. So always kind of ingraining in me that submission in women and the dominance of man.

“Growing up, I also saw domestic violence at home. At an early age, I had to stand up to my dad and really say, ‘What you’re doing isn’t right. I don’t agree with it.’ I think that’s where our relationship stunted.

“As a 9-year-old kind of living in fear of your own father, it hits you hard. But I think it’s when I realized that I didn’t want to see my mom get hurt. So I couldn’t be quiet about it. This isn’t to say that I don’t love my father. I just think that for many years, I did resent him.

“The steps I took in my life to really excel in school and find opportunities for myself came from thinking about the life that we had with my dad. I didn’t want that life for my mom. I didn’t want my little brothers to think that was a normal way to treat women.

“I was always a curious kid. But when I started seeing those things at home, I really started to dive into school. That was my one safe space. That was where I could really prove that I was capable. That I am worthy of having my ideas heard. That I have a lot to offer.

“When I got a full academic and merit-leadership scholarship to college, my dad never said congratulations or anything. I think deep down, there was still that part of me that wanted to prove myself to him. That those things you said about my mom, or about me, or about women in general, they’re not true. Because look at what I’m doing. Look at the things I’m accomplishing.

“I think I did hold it against him, the way he saw me as the weaker one, the one that needed to be quiet, and not to take up too much space. And I was showing him, well, I’m going to do the opposite of that. I’m going to take up as much space as I need.”

— Azalia Sprecher

Azalia was in the first graduating class at IMPACT Early College High School, earning her high school diploma and associate’s degree from Lee College. She received a full scholarship from the Posse Foundation to attend Bryn Mawr College in suburban Philadelphia, and graduated in 2018. She is now a paralegal, and hopes to attend law school.

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“I played volleyball in middle school and high school. Then I got a full ride to play at Lee College. It was my first year there, and we were at a tournament in the El Paso area when I landed wrong from blocking. I tore my ACL, meniscus and everything. I knew instantly.

“So I did the surgery. I did the rehab. I tried everything to get back into it. But I just knew it wasn’t going to be the same. I didn’t trust my knee enough to do the physical movements. I knew the sport was done for me.

“It was definitely upsetting. Being so young at the time, I thought my life was over. I wanted to eventually go into a four-year college program like my friends from our high school team. I really wanted to do volleyball as a full-time thing. But after blowing out my knee, I had to pick a different career.

“Right out of high school, I started working as a medical assistant at an OB-GYN office in Baytown. It’s the reason I decided to go into nursing. That and the fact that my mom has been a nurse for years. At the time of my injury, she was studying to become a nurse practitioner. She was constantly a role model to pursue a career in the medical field, and always encouraging me to do something big.

“I’m in nursing school at UTMB Galveston. It’s online right now, but hopefully we’ll go back to in-person soon. I’m still at the OB-GYN office, and I work alongside my mom. That’s been pretty cool.

“We really are best friends, so we work really well together. We mesh well. It’s like I know what she wants before she even wants it. Of course, we are mother-daughter, so sometimes we do butt heads. But for the most part, it’s been really nice.”

— Delany Boyd

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“The death of my mother is definitely something that I had to deal with because I was not prepared. I mean, nobody’s really prepared for death. I was an only child. Being as close as I was to her, it catches you off guard. You’re just not ready.

“As long as my mother was alive, I didn’t have to grow up. I didn’t have to worry about a thing because she was right there. She took care of everything. But once she left me, I had to step into that role, become the woman that I’m supposed to be, and just go on with my life.

“It’s been 25 years since she passed. I was 30-something at the time. So I was old enough. I worked all the time. I had a child. And I was very responsible. My mother taught me to be that. She taught me a lot of things.

“What I miss most is just being with her, talking with her, and getting advice from her. The best advice she ever gave me was to always, always, number one, respect yourself. She would preach that to me all the time. She said, a reputation for a woman is easy to get but it’s hard to get away from. And she said, you don’t ever want to get a bad reputation. So respect yourself first, and then be respectful of others.

“I’ve carried that with me. And I’ve laid that piece of wisdom on my own daughter. Just passing it on to the next generation.”

— Mary Arceneaux

Mary, who lives in Crosby, teaches Sunday school at Greater St. John Missionary Baptist Church in Baytown.

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“Her name is Tutti. Like Tutti Frutti. She’s a Chinese Crested/Jack-A-Poo mix. When she was very young, the people who had her stepped on her. They said the kids were real mean to her. So we ended up taking her.

“She has luxating patellas. Her back legs are out of place because of it. The vet said it would be $2,500 a leg to fix, but I didn’t have the money at the time. So she’s had to adapt.

“She couldn’t walk the first year of her life. She would take a few steps and fall over. I had to carry her everywhere. She’s 4 1/2 now. She only walks so many steps before getting tired. Then she kind of bunny hops. But she’s not in pain or anything. She’s a good, happy little girl. And she’s spoiled rotten. She’s like my baby. When my daughter went off to college, Tutti was like a mini-replacement.

“My daughter and I are very close. I was a single mom. It was always just me and her. Then I got my husband when she was 12. She’s about to turn 24. She graduated from Baylor University, and now she’s in Baylor Law School. She’s thinking about doing environmental or immigration law.

“She’s overcome a lot in life. She has Asperger’s. I didn’t know for sure until her first year in high school, when a counselor mentioned it. It’s been challenging, but she hasn’t let it stop her. She’s extremely smart. She made straight A’s all through school. She graduated high school with lots of honors. She was in honor society in high school and college.

“I’m very proud of her accomplishments. But I’m even more proud of how she’s grown as a person. She cares about others. She wants to help people. All I ever wanted was for her to be a good person and to be successful in life.

“I was a high school dropout. I left after ninth grade. Just getting in trouble with my friends. No support at home. No aspirations in life. When I was 21 and had my daughter, I was determined that she would have a better life and do better than I did.

“She’s the first love of my life. This baby here is second. My husband may not like to hear that. But my children are special to me.”

— Rhonda

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“We’ve been seeing a gradual decline in the number of COVID patients. The last time I was at work, we had a few empty beds. That hasn’t been the case in a very long time. I definitely think it’s because more people are being vaccinated.

“I believe in the vaccine. Vaccinated people can still get sick, but they don’t get as sick. We’re seeing more of that. More good stories. Vaccinated people are actually getting out of the ICU.

“When it comes to people feeling like they’re being forced to do something, they’re always going to be reluctant. But right now, that vaccine is saving lives.

“We had a 31-year-old patient come in with COVID. She was unvacinnated, and she succumbed to the virus. One of the saddest things for us as nurses is when the family comes in and has to face the tragedy. In this case, a 10-year-old girl was pulled out of school to say her last goodbye to her mom. I don’t think there was a dry eye on that unit.

“It was a Hispanic family, and nobody spoke English. But you didn’t need a translator to feel the emotion from that little girl. She wailed for her mom. She begged for her mom to come back and to not leave her.

“That’s a story that will stick with me. I have an 8-year-old daughter. And I just couldn’t imagine leaving her.

“We’ve seen too many people die from this. Don’t treat it like it’s nothing. Because I can guarantee that even if it’s nothing to you, it can be something to someone else. We’re all going through this together. We all can do our part. I encourage everybody to do their part and get vaccinated.”

— Kelvin Gray

Related:

• ‘COVID has let us know exactly how mortal we are’

The post ICU nurse stresses importance of vaccine appeared first on The Baytown Project.

“I stopped working for a while because I was scared of all the COVID. But he did go to work. Maybe it was there that he got sick. Then I got it, too.

“I didn’t have any problems. So I just took care of him. He went to the hospital emergency room two times. He had a high fever for 14 days. That was the worst part. After that he was fine, but he felt so tired. So he stayed home for a few months. The doctor said it would be better for him.

“Now he’s back to work. I’m back at work. We hope everything is going to be all right.

“Our daughter, Guadalupe, is a nurse in the COVID unit at Houston Methodist Baytown Hospital. It’s now an IMCU/COVID unit due to the acuity of the patients in this current surge.

“She finished school, and has been working there a few months. At first, it was so hard to see her leave home and go to work there. She’s working with COVID patients, so we’ve been worried about her a lot.

“But she already had the vaccine. She has lots of protection with masks and shields and clothes. They change and change all day. So I think she’s fine. She looks happy. She prays every day about the people who are sick, and about us because she worries about us, too.

“Sometimes I think she’s going to be so sad when she’s back at home. But no. She says, ‘Mom, I’m so happy to be helping people.’ I’m so proud of her. And I pray for her.”

— Fanny Zepeda

Related:

• Love takes them from Mexico to U.S.

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“I remember everything. I was 7 years old when she started being nauseous and feeling weak. I would walk her to the restroom and back to the living room. At first, she thought she was pregnant. But it was cancer. And it spread. It attacked her organs.

“It was pretty hard on me. I was really, really close to her. I would even sleep with her in the hospital. One time she told me, ‘Baby, I’m going to be gone. You’d better get ready.’ She was preparing me for the worst. In less than a year, it was over. She was 38 when she passed away.

“I still get sad when I think about it. But I have lots of good memories of her, too. I remember her walking with me to school every morning. And in the summer, we used to look at the stars every single night. My middle name is Lucero. In Spanish, it means bright star. So she would point to the sky and say, ‘That’s you, baby. That’s you right up there.’ To this day, I like to sit outside and look at the stars every night. And I talk to my mom. I tell her, ‘I need your strength.’

“Her name was Martha. She loved life. She loved helping people. We didn’t have much. But if she saw somebody who had less and needed it more than we did, she’d take food to their house. And she took me with her. I still remember when I was like 3 years old, she would give me the bag of food and say, ‘Here, you give it to them.’ She was showing me what it means to be a caring person. And it stuck. Because I love the feeling of helping people without expecting anything in return. Just like my mom.”

— Brenda Avila

Related:

• Young mother proud of sons and herself

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