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A Growing Tribute To Yaritza

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By GEORGE H. NEWMAN

The Tampa Tribune

Published: August 13, 2008

PLANT CITY - Nothing can take away the pain of losing a 15-year-old daughter to leukemia, but the family of a former Burney Elementary School student knows she won't be forgotten at the school she loved.

During the last day of the summer camp school session at Burney, 901 S. Evers St., staff members and about 150 students met in a shaded courtyard for a somber ceremony. There they dedicated a garden as an everlasting tribute to Yaritza Rosales.

Sara Barron Duarte was touched by the efforts to honor her daughter.

"I am very grateful for the school and all the students for remembering Yaritza with this beautiful garden," Duarte, who speaks Spanish, said through an interpreter. "Yaritza cared more about others and worried about them, more than she worried about herself."

Yaritza was born March 23, 1993. She died July 9 at St. Petersburg's All Children's Hospital from complications of leukemia and childhood diabetes. She attended Burney as a fifth-grader in 2006-07. She was enrolled at Marshall Middle School during the past school year, but her illness did not allow steady attendance. Even then she took the time to visit her old school.

Burney Principal Sally Stephens, Assistant Principal Mellissa Alonso, fourth-grade teacher Megan Allen and special education teacher Tricia Hoyle helped dedicate the garden and spoke fondly of their memories of her.

"Yaritza's Garden is a celebration of her life," Stephens said.

Alonso said the chemotherapy treatments were hard on Yaritza.

"We knew when she was being treated," Alonso said. "She never complained, but the treatment always took its toll. Our intention at Burney was to give her a normal school experience. All she wanted was to come to school and be a normal kid."

Allen taught Yaritza during the summer session last year.

"We could see she wasn't feeling well," Allen said. "But she wasn't going to complain about it. She tried to remain happy and let her personality shine."

Yaritza's Garden, which includes flowers and a bench, is in a courtyard near the school's office.

Yaritza began chemo treatments as a 3-year-old, her mother said through interpreter Dawn Jeffords, an English language learner resource teacher at the school. "The cancer leukemia would come and go. Sometimes, after treatment, it would be undetected. Then it would come back."
Duarte said her daughter was strong throughout her life. She was happy. She never complained.

"My daughter told me not to cry. She did not be want me to be sad for her," Duarte said. "She wanted me to be happy. She told her father Humberto Duarte Rosales, who also has diabetes that she might be sick, but she was happy. She was a caring daughter and a good friend to her sisters and brother."

Yaritza has two sisters, Griselda, 16, and Elizabeth, 13, and a brother, Humberto, 5. Griselda had a daughter born to her on the day her sister was buried. She named the baby Yaritza Martinez Rosales in honor of her deceased sister.

In May, the doctor told the family there was nothing more they could do to help Yaritza.

"My daughter remained happy, playing with her friends as usual. On June 11, she started to become very tired and was no longer able to play."

Duarte said her daughter was hospitalized for the last time in late June.

"The doctor said there was nothing to do but wait," she said.

Family members stayed at a Ronald McDonald House near All Children's. The houses, located around the world, provide overnight lodging to relatives of hospitalized children.

"I lived in the hospital," the mother said. "I was always with my sick daughter, eating and sleeping in the hospital. Yaritza never despaired. She always smiled. Her friends visited and she would talk and laugh with them."

Burney teachers Allen and Hoyle visited their student one week before her death.

"We called several times but were told not to come because she was in a coma or nonresponsive," Allen said, tears welling in her eyes and rolling down her cheeks. "Finally we were able to go. Yaritza was weak and close to death. But she responded to us and her other friends that visited. She slipped in and out of a coma. But when conscious, she always showed her wonderful personality."

During the garden dedication ceremony, several of the students read their thoughts about their lost friend.

Sydney St. Brun, a 10-year-old fifth-grader, wrote: "I hope her family doesn't worry about her because she is safe wherever she is. We hope that Yaritza's Garden keeps growing and helps us remember her for who she was. Remember, she's always going to be with us in our hearts."

Hoyle said Yaritza was two or three years older than students in her fifth-grade class.

"She missed so much school due to illness, it was hard for her to keep up," Hoyle said. "Even though there was an age difference, she got along well with all the students. She loved coming to school. And her classmates always wanted to do work projects with her."

"Yaritza was quiet and sweet, with a calm personality," Hoyle said. "Reading, writing and drawing was her joy at school. She was a special student who wanted to learn every day. She was a blessing to me. Teachers thrive on students like Yaritza who want to learn."

Keeping with Spanish tradition, Yaritza was given a quinceanera, or "Sweet 15" party, that had to be postponed because of a scheduled chemo treatment.

"Her birthday is March 23," her mother said. "We changed the party to March 29. She was so happy. She danced and she smiled. She loved her dress. It was a night that she looked forward to. She danced as if she would live forever."

The staff at Burney wants her memory to last as long as the school.

"I want to thank the school," Duarte said. "I also want to thank the doctors and nurses at All Children's Hospital. They were so good to her. They saw her grow up and treated her like family."

"When she died, she was still smiling," her mother said.

"The nurse gently touched her face and closed her lips. She was gone."

Reporter George H. Newman can be reached at (813) 865-4451 or gnewman@tampatrib.com.

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