Suzanne Consford Mendoza

On July 31, 2009, Mike's sister Suzanne was admitted to the hospital. At first they were running some test to find out why she was so jaundice. The doctors discovered that her liver was failing. She was put on some medication, hoping that it would slow the damage to her liver, unfortunately it didn't help. In order to get a liver transplant she would have to wait 6 months before she would even be put on the transplant list, then there is about a 4 year wait. Her body couldn't take the trauma, and her liver completely failed. On Aug 26, Suzanne passed away, she was only 39. Mike and I were able to travel to Washington, with little man. The girls stayed with my parents while we went to help with all of the arrangements. Suzanne left behind 4 children ranging in age from 20 to 9. I am so grateful that we were able to go to Washington this summer and see Suzanne. What a blessing it was to be able to see her and create those great memories before all of this happened.
Mike was able to dedicate the grave, and say a few words at the funeral. How grateful I am to be married to such a wonderful and strong man. I am amazed at how well the family is coping with such a tragedy. Here are a few pictures from the funeral.

We wanted to let some balloons go after the funeral, unfortunately the cemetery is located in a flight zone. They told us that we could let one go if we cut the strings off, but we wouldn't be able to let them all go. So we opted to take the balloons to a park and let them go there. We also had a nice family barbecue afterwards.

Suzanne, we love you and will help watch over those you left behind.

The following is a link to her obituary. You can also click on memories on the left side of the link to view a slide show of Suzanne.
http://heritagememorialchapel.frontrunnerpro.com/runtime/33783/runtime.php?SiteId=33783&NavigatorId=164288&op=tributeObituary&viewOpt=dpaneOnly&ItemId=332761