Swine flu victim had zest for life, daughter recalls
Daughter talks about mother's zest for life despite weak health
Maria Monroe loved to be in the kitchen, baking and cooking for her husband, three daughters and 16 grandchildren.
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Her favorite scripture
Maria Monroe particularly appreciated this scripture:
"But for me to live is Christ and to die is but gain."
A 60-year-old woman who died from complications of swine flu was much more than a statistic. She was a fighter.
Maria Monroe, of Bloomington, was the first confirmed case and death of the H1N1 virus in the Crossroads region. Her daughter, Marisol Zendejas, talked about her mother in an interview with the Advocate.
Monroe was active in her church, and loved to travel and spend time with her grandchildren.
"She an unstoppable person," Zendejas said about her mother's character.
Born in Yorktown on March 21, 1949, Monroe married at 17 to Leslie Monroe, a young musician of Victoria who was about to be shipped to Vietnam.
Monroe and her husband had three daughters Marisol, Mary and Matilda. The couple were very close and were only two years apart and shared the same birthdays.
Leslie was not yet ready to talk about his late wife, Zendejas said.
"He's doing OK. He is well known everywhere he goes," she said. "He's kind of holding on."
For 20 years, Monroe suffered from lupus, a chronic auto-immune disease that affects various parts of the body. In the past five years, the lupus had gone away, leaving some organs and her immune system fragile.
Lupus also gave her diabetes.
Monroe was scheduled for a kidney transplant in late June because of the damage lupus had done to her body.
On May 26, Monroe started with a bad cough, Zendejas said. Her mother had an appointment for the transplant, but wasn't up to going, she said.
"She didn't want to go because the weather was bad, so we rescheduled," she said.
Over the next two days, Zendejas said, her mother seemed fine but began running a fever.
On May 29, Monroe's doctor advised she go to the emergency room just to be safe, she said.
"If you knew how she was, she was always in the hospital," Zendejas said. "We knew she was going to fight it and get out."
However, her condition began taking a turn for the worse on the Sunday before her death.
Doctors found she had pneumonia, her daughter said.
"It all tangled up together and they couldn't help her," she said. "Even if she would've tried to fight, she had no power to fight."
At 4 a.m. June 6, Zendejas got the phone call she said she'd never thought would come.
"We thought she was going to get out of this," Zendejas said, trying not to choke up. "It was far away from me thinking she wasn't going to make it."
It wasn't until the Wednesday after her mother's death that the family found Monroe had tested positive for swine flu.
Family members in close contact with Monroe during her last couple of days were treated with medication to avoid the virus from spreading.
Zendejas said she didn't realize her mother was the first confirmed person in the area with swine flu.
"It was hard. We just passed Mother's Day, and we had a great time," she said. "Yes, I understand that she was sick, but she was a fighter and she was trying to fight."
Despite her death, Zendejas said her family was staying close together and remembering Monroe for who she was, not how she died.
"She was always at it," Zendejas said. "She was always involved in so many activities."
Monroe was an active member of the Cornerstone Apostolic Church and always lent a helping hand at benefits, her daughter said.
"She was there even if she was just putting the bread in the bags," she said. "She was the last one to ever say no, but she was always the worst one" in terms of her health.
In Monroe's kitchen, there is 40 little spoons, souvenirs from every place she had visited.
"She's been to Las Vegas, California, San Francisco, New Mexico," she said. "More places than I have."
Monroe and her husband were always together, and that never changed until the day she died, Zendejas said.
"He doesn't want to be by himself," she said about her father. "It's always been them two. They were always inseparable."
Monroe also loved to bake and spend time telling stories to her 16 grandchildren.
"I guess our comfort is that in her faith, she was real strong," she said.
Comments
Grandma Monroe as we knew her was a very kind and gentle person. She was the mother to my aunt Maddy and aunt Mary she loved life and was a fighter like my aunt said. We miss her but have a lot of memories to hold on to.
June 22, 2009 at 12:50 p.m.The last time she visited Mexico was more than 20 years ago. The Victoria Advocate ran a clarification in the June 15 paper.
June 21, 2009 at 6:55 p.m.http://www.victoriaadvocate.com/news/...
Thank you for your concern and for reading.
This is very sad...bless you and your family. I hope that Victoria doesn't get to bad with this since it is close to home. You cant avoid going places.....SCARY
June 20, 2009 at 11:32 p.m.Very sad story, but she sounded like a wonderful, wonderful person. Sorry for your loss.
June 20, 2009 at 11:28 p.m.