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21-year-oldlived life fully, facing challenges with a smile

Throughout treatments for Apert's syndrome, Mayra Giraldo kept her spirits up and helped other special needs kids.

By MARTY CLEAR
Published July 7, 2006

VALRICO - In the weeks before she died, Mayra Giraldo graduated from high school and attended her senior prom. She was a little nervous about what her future held, but she was looking forward to her birthday in July.

It had been years since her last operation related to an unusual genetic condition called Apert's syndrome.

Her family had begun to feel that she would live a long life. And everything seemed fine when she went to bed on June 13.

When her mother checked on her in the early hours of June 14, Mayra Giraldo was lying dead on her bedroom floor. She was 21 years old.

Her life was short, but it was much longer than doctors expected when she was born.

"They said she wasn't going to survive, so they didn't want to give her full treatment," said her sister, Amal Colon. "But my mother insisted."

Apert's syndrome comprises a number of physiological symptoms, including a prematurely fused skull that can lead to pressure on the brain and fingers that are fused together. As a very young child, Ms. Giraldo had to have a shunt inserted into her brain and a feeding tube into her stomach. When she was a teenager, doctors had to break both of her legs and set them in casts in order to straighten the bones.

She was exceedingly happy through it all, both as a child and as a young adult, her family said. She spoke three languages: English, Spanish and Portuguese.

"My mother wanted to give her a full, happy life, and that's what she did," Colon said. "She was so happy."

Ms. Giraldo grew up in Elizabeth, N.J. She attended schools for students with special needs, but she was determined to live as normal a life as possible.

"She was always the one at her school who would help the other kids and push their wheelchairs for them," her sister said. "She always thought of everyone else before herself."

One of her biggest passions in life was Britney Spears. She loved Spears' early music and would play her records constantly. On her 16th birthday, her family surprised her with tickets to an upcoming Spears concert.

"I was going to go with her and she called me every single day to ask if I was going to be ready," Colon said. "She was so excited. She just loved it."

Ms. Giraldo came to Valrico with her family three years ago. She attended school in Plant City and earned her high school diploma in May.

Her health had been good in recent years, so she and her family were starting to make plans for a long future together.

"Routine was very important to her, and she was nervous about what she was going to do after she graduated," her sister said. "My mother was going to look at maybe some volunteer work at the church because she was very religious."

The cause of death has still not been determined. The family is expecting autopsy results in a few weeks.

Ms. Giraldo is survived by her parents, Hector and Tanya Giraldo; two brothers, Felipe Giraldo and Marwan Arafat; and four sisters, Amina Castro, Hanan Mestre, Amal Colon and Nora Giraldo.

[Last modified July 6, 2006, 19:22:12]