 The picture on the right is of Melissa and her precious son Jorge Anthony in Cancun (Summer of 2006) Hi, my name is Jessica Ramirez and I have created this memorial in loving memory of my beautiful Sister Melissa Meraz Levario, who passed away in Feb. 2007 due to an Astrocytoma Medulloblastoma type brain tumor the size of a golf ball in her cerebellum.
Melissa was shockingly diagnosed with this terrible tumor on February 16th 2007 and passed away a week later on February 23, 2007....Melissa was only 21 years old and was currently married and had one little boy who was 3 years old at the time and is now 4 years old .....He surely misses his Mommy a ton....He knows that his Mommy has gone to be with our Lord and Savior in Heaven and at times he'll point up to the sky and tell us that he wants to go up there to Heaven with his Mommy......
It is absolutely heartbreaking....Melissa was a very humble person. She was a very outgoing, jolly person with a unique personality. I can almost say that you NEVER saw her without a BIG BRIGHT SMILE on her face....The moment anyone met her, she would steal their heart and they would immediately love her. She had a very inviting personality and always made you laugh. She was the life of every party.
Before Melissa passed, she had been a Radiology Student at our local College for approximately 2 years and was a straight "A" student throughout her short life. She had been doing clinicals at our local hospitals and never appeared to be ill. No one, including herself, ever imagined that she could have a brain tumor of the magnitude that she did. She was just a normal, healthy, bubbly, 21 year old.
She had never had any health problems in the past. Approximately 6 months before her diagnosis, she began to have headaches here and there, but nothing major, it just seemed like she'd have a headache here and there but the headaches didn't seem unbearable. About 1 or 2 months before she passed, we started noticing that she would complain of these headaches a little more than usual, but she had already obtained medical treatment for headaches and thought that they were just migraines.
She never let her headaches effect her normal routines and continued to go about her business, including pre-scheduled vacations and so forth. In the days previous to her diagnosis, her headaches began to worsen and pretty much became unbearable and strange things began to happen to her, like shaking in her left hand, vomiting and dizziness.
We then took her back to her neurologist, whom had been treating her for mirgraines on the 16th of February because that morning she called Mom and said that she felt terrible and that she couldn't stand the headache and could not go to class. While she was being examined by the neurologist, she literally passed out in front of him. She regained consciousness about 30 seconds later and an MRI was ordered immediately and the discovery was made.
This was on a Friday and she was scheduled an appt with a neurosurgeon for the follow Tuesday and was sent home with a steriod prescription to help with the swelling of the brain.....The following night on the 17th of February about 10:00 P.M. Melissa started having seizures (which she never suffered from in the past) and we immediately called 911. She regained consciousness while in transport to the ER and even while in the ER, but only a couple minutes after her arrival, she suffered a massive stroke due to the swelling and the fluid in her brain, caused by this golf ball size tumor and she stopped breathing and had to be put on a ventilator.
An emergency ventricolostomy was performed but unfortunately the doctors said that due to the massive stroke, she had probably suffered severe brain damage and that they could not detect any brain activity whatsoever.....She was then transferred to ICU where the only chances the neurosurgeon would give us was a miracle. We were told that if she happened to pull through, that she would pretty much be a vegetable....
This was absolutely devastating and heartbreaking, it was like a 2 ton brick wall falling on top of us out of nowhere. It was so unbelievable that just a few days before, she appeared to be totally and absolutely healthy and laughing and talking. And now, here we were with her pretty much on her death bed....At this point, the Drs said that our only chances were to put her through a very risky surgery to try and remove the tumor and if this wasn't done, then she was certainly going to die.....we knew that she was strong and had faith that she could pull through the surgery, which she did, but the swelling in the brain was so severe that even after the removal of the tumor, it didn't relieve any pressure in her brain.
We never imagined that when she was taken in that ambulance, that we would never see those beautiful bright eyes open again, nor that we would never again see that big bright smile or that we would never here that loud bubbly voice again or much less that her tiny precious 3yr old Son, would not get to see, hug or kiss his loving Mommy ever again..........
Sister: the emptiness that you have left us will never be full again and we miss you so so much, but we know that you are where God needs you to be and I know that you must be so happy there. In our eyes, you have not left because you live, each and everyday and forever, in the most tender part of our hearts where we keep all of our love....And when I look up at the sky and see that tiny little star shining as bright as your smile, that's when I know that you're still right there watching over us..........
Thanks for being the best Sister I could have ever asked for.........
I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART AND MORE, AND WILL WAIT PATIENTLY TIL THE DAY WE MEET AGAIN...........
May You Rest In Peace.... | 
Melissa and one of her good friends Mirella....
