Vanessa (Nessa) Castro

This story is dedicated to my precious daughter Vanessa (Nessa).

At the age of 19 she became extremely ill when her appendix burst. Upon arriving at the ER they quickly ran tests and after several days of waiting in the ICU for a diagnosis, the doctors were able to pinpoint the cause of her illness. They finally wheeled her into surgery to remove her appendix and a sense of relief swept over me. (Sepsis and Appendicitis)

After the surgery she seemed to be doing fine but a few days later, it was a shock to all of us to find out that sepsis and ARDS (acute respiratory distress syndrome) began to take over her body. (Sepsis and ARDS) It was a very exhausting battle.

She fought every day for three long months. Day and night we were by her side praying for a miracle. She would open her eyes every once in a while and I would notice a tear running down her cheek when she looked at us. She never said anything, she couldn’t. She was intubated and in a medically induced paralytic state for those three months. I wanted so badly to carry her out of that hospital and just bring her back home with us but deep down in my heart I knew that I might not be able to.

She passed away on September 24, 2011 at 7:55 am. Coincidentally that is the same time her school bus used to pick her up every morning for school.

If there is such a thing as being alive but not living, then that is what happened to me on that day. My heart melted when we had to walk out of the hospital without her and now I only live by the grace of God.

Source: by Linda Castro (Nessa's mother)