(Seguin) — “She was so full of life. She was always so silly and loved her big bows.” These words took plenty of strength for Belinda Lopez to muster up now that she is left with only memories of her 9-year-old sister Milagros “Milly” Hernandez.
Hernandez, a third grader at Rodriguez Elementary School, lost her fight to a heart defect early Sunday morning at University Hosptal in San Antonio.
For years, Hernandez has suffered from Congenital Aortic Stenosis, undergoing several surgeries throughout her short life. Lopez, who became her sister’s guardian following the death of their mother Delida Morales in 2016, says despite the numerous challenges, her baby sister was always grateful for everyday and lived her best life.
“It’s been hard for her ever since she was small and then for my mom too when she had her, before she passed away. It’s always been hard but Milagros always tried to keep a smile on her face. She tried not
to let it get her down. She just tried to be as normal as she could be — do normal things even though she knew she had the heart defect issue so she never let it bother her and so we always tried to let her do everything normal as much as she can. She lived a pretty normal life,” said Lopez.
Lopez says her sister’s latest struggles began soon after a family trip to the beach in late April. The trip was purposely planned before Hernandez’s next scheduled surgery in early May. Lopez says the beach is all that her sister had wished for and had talked about.
“She really wants to go to the beach before her surgery. You know she wants to have fun before she goes to her surgery because it’s going to be some recovery time for her and she’s not going to be able to do a lot of things becuase she’s going to be busy recovering and so, I agreed. At first, I didn’t want to. I was like ‘no why don’t you just stay home, you are going to have surgery soon.’ But, I got voted out and so we went to the beach and she had a lot of fun on the beach even though she knew she was going to have surgery soon. You see Milagros had an incident on the beach and to be honest, she should have died on the beach but when Milagros had that incident on the beach, the risks went from risky — what they always are — to very high, high risk,” said Lopez.
Although she had recovered and things appeared to have been improving, Hernandez this past Friday was readmitted to the hospital following a variety of complications and again was unable to pull through this one last time.
Not only is her loss affecting family but Lopez believes it has also impacted her classmates — classmates that were also preparing for her return.
“The school I know has been taking it pretty hard especially her classmates and I feel like very bad. I cant’ imagine what they are going through because my 7-year-old (son) is taking it pretty hard so I can only imagine her classmates and how they are taking it and I know that has to be hard because they were expecting her to come back. They knew she was going for surgery. They knew that. They even wrote her little notes for her to have them after her surgery and so it meant the world to her and she was so happy that day,” said Lopez.
Lopez says Hernandez was always full of smiles, joy and loved helping others. She says her hope is that students and staff at the campus learn from her short experience here on earth and that they too take on the lessons that she has left behind — lessons to always “fight on” and to “never give up no matter the obstacle.”
“Like I explained to the facultuy there, the principal and everyone at the school, I just hope and pray that when there is a child having a bad day or an adult having a bad day, that they can share a little bit about Milagros and what she went through to give them that strength to want to keep going and not give up whether it’s needing to get up to go to school — whether it’s needing to get up and want to keep going and live another day — whatever it may be — I hope that her story can help them in a way that they want to keep going, ecnouragment. I just hope that that can bring some of that to some people and that it will help others,” said Lopez.
Lopez says although she was the big sister, it was Hernandez who has always inspired her.
“I looked up to Milagros. She looked up to me just like I looked up to her even though she was smaller than me. She was a wonderful child. She would bring a smile to everybody’s face, tried to encourage others even when she was down. She liked to help and so I think and hope that what happened to her, it can bring some strength to others becuase she’s been through a lot and she tried to live a really good life and I think that she did a good job of being here,” said Lopez.
To help the family cover funeral costs, friends and family have scheduled a pair of fundraisers. They’ve also set up a cash app and a GoFundMe account. The first is a barbecue plate fundraiser beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday at JR Lounge located at 1918 W. Kingsbury St. Plates are $8 each and will be available until sold out. Plates include chicken, sausage, rice and beans. No tickets are required. A second benefit plate sale is scheduled for Sunday, May 30 from 2 to 6 p.m. at Savannah’s Snow Cones located at 413 N. Austin St. Plates will include enchilada casserole with rice and beans plate. Plates are $7 each. Tickets can be purchased by contacting Lopez at 830-243-3130.
Lopez says her family is appreciative for all the support that has already been shown and thanks others in advance.
“Whatever anyone can help us with, it’s gonig to help so even if it’s just a few dollars. It doesn’t matter. Prayers are going to help us a lot and we are grateful for any help that anyone wants to give. Something is better than nothing and there’s a lot of help that has been given to us and we appreciate it so much and I know she does too,” said Lopez.
Monetary donations can be made via a cash app. A QR code to make that donation can be found in today’s digital Seguin Daily News, which can be accessed at SeguinToday.com. Donations are also
being accepted at gofund.me/d103f2c9.