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Melissa's Story
"Hello, we are the Ceron Family. We live in Mexico City..."
I am an American Citizen by my father and Mexican by mother. I grew up in the States until my parents divorced in 1986, afterwards we moved to Mexico City. In 1990, I met my Husband Erik Ceron. We dated 7 years, finished college, began work and married in 1996. My husband is an executive for one of Mexcio's most important Insurance Companies (Thank God! we have great insurance) and I worked for 8 eight years as a preschool teacher.
In 1999 I became pregnant with our first daughter and quit working to become a SAHM, my husband started an MBA. My pregnancy went wonderfully and Michelle was born November 3, 1999. As soon as Erik concluded his MBA in 2001, we became pregnant with Melissa. It was a normal pregnancy until the 5th month. But in a routine ultrasound the Dr. found discrepencies with my daughters measurements. She was small for her gestional age. I got scared, but tried to relax. I was sent to have other tests done, but all came back normal. So, another month passed by. And again, the same discrepencies appeared with her measurements.
I had another 3d ultrasound done and everything "seemed normal" except her measurements. Everytime I asked what they thought was causing this, their answer was always the same. It could be a variety of things. So another month passed, the same thing happened. The doctor told me to eat more so my baby would grow. The only one that grew was me! I got huge!!
Finally at week 36 I went for our check up and the doctor made me stay in the hospital. Something was very wrong with her heartbeat (it was very slow) and she was suffering. Melissa was born on January 21st, 2002. She was born crying real loud (which was a relief for me), but tiny, tiny, tiny. 4 or 5 pounds (1 kilo with 500 grams to be exact).
At first, it seemed we had given birth to a normal premature baby. She was so beautiful, and I felt blessed that all the tests that were being done on her came back normal. She'd only have to stay in the hospital until she gained some more weight. Exactly one week after her birth my neonatologist asked a pediatric neurologist to check her out because she showed signs of an infection, but had no symptoms of any illness. That day was the worst day our lives.
The neurologist had an ultrasound of her brain done and it appeared she had calcifications. From her expert point of view, she was almost sure it was an infection due to a virus called Citomegalovirus. To confirm her suspicions she would have an MRI. The MRI showed that this horrible infection had destroyed 70% of our daughters brain. She would most likely not be able, to talk, walk, hear, see or speak.
We were devasted and totally caught off guard. Why? I had taken such good care of myself? Folic Acid, no smoking, I tried to eat right and rest as much as possible. How in the world could something like this happen? I was very naive, and believed that if you did all the right things, life always turned out the right way. Melissa was my first life lesson that proved me wrong.
Melissa is severely disabled, she cannot even lift her neck. She has had physical therapy all her life, with absolutely no improvements. At the age of three she had a gastric tube put in her belly. She was dying of malnutrition. Before the feeding tube, she was hospitalized three times for pneumonia. She had problems with a recurring Urinary tract Infection. She was operated on to fix this problem. Her feeding tube has given her better health. Ever since, she has not been back to the hospital.
Thankfully, Melissa can see and hear, so she smiles at us and recognizes the people that love her. She cannot talk at all, but somehow comunicates very well when she is sad, happy, angry or sick. She gets colds very easily, but I have become an expert on curing her when she gets colds. In Mexico getting antibiotics is not dificult, so as soon as she shows her first signs of getting sick, I know what to do. Her pediatrician and I talk frequently on the phone and he prescribes medicine by phone. That way, we avoid taking her to his office to avoid exposing her to any illness. She gets sick sooo easily- I only take her to the doc when it is extremely necessary.
When she was little I took her everywhere. She took swimming lessons, went to birthday parties and Halloween. Sadly, as she has grown, all that has slowly disapeared. She now spends her days with her nanny Lupita in her room. She has a lovely room, with a beautiful view, but it's still only a room. Whenever I do take her out I pay the price dearly. She gets awfully sick and it takes weeks for her to recover. So we had to opt to stop taking her out with us.
She took her last family vacation almost 3 years ago. Of course this afected her. Before she was a much happier little girl. Now she is much more serious: It's hard to get her to smile. It breaks my heart to see her this way. But she is healthy. I question if that health is worth the poor quality of life she now leads. But her nanny, that's like a grandma to her, begs us not take her out because she suffers so much when she gets sick.
From the day she was diagnosed the doctors predicted she would only live no more than 2 years. I couldn't bear that reality because all I ever wanted to be was a wife and mom. So, we decided to have more children. After Melissa we had 2 sons. Erik Jr, who is now six and last year I gave birth to our last baby Alexander. Our life is hectic, but so blessed. Our children give us such joy.
Melissa, she has been our coach to help us get into heaven! We are a better family because of her. She has made us strong and brought us closer to God. We became devout Catholics after her arrival. Our lives have a purpose and a mission. Even so, I'd be lying if I said, I wonder when God will finally take her and relieve her from her prison of a body, and us from the tiresome, grueling, and exasperating job of taking care of her and seeing her suffer. I truly thought that she would not live very much and I prepared myself for that. But she has so much will to live and is so strong. She has withstood the unbearable.
We are proud of her. Her sister and brothers are proud of her and love her so much. I can say they are much more sensitive and considerate of other peoples feelings than most children their age. I can certainly thank the experience of Melissa to them being better human beings. I can certainly thank my daughter for my husband becoming an incredible hero of a man. She is our strengh, our pride, and the reason we will always have a happy and fulfiling life. Although we are tired of the medicines, sleepless nights, the seizures, phlegms, colds, and most of all, her pain. The day she is finally gone there will be an empty space in our family forever. She's our baby, our daughter, and we love her so.
- Shared by her mother, Angie