Hi, my name is Christine, this is my first time posting on LFEBridge. I’m usually a private person but today I am sharing the story of my sister Karla and reaching out to ask for help. On July 29th at around 1:43am PST my sister Karla passed away while awaiting paramedics in her home beside her 3 boys and husband. Her death was very sudden, and we were not prepared for one of our sister’s to be taken from us so early. At only 40 years old she leaves behind her three handsome young boys, Romeo and her twin boys Adan and Adrian. The twins are special needs ADS boys, one of which will need lifetime care. She also leaves behind the father of her children and her childhood sweetheart of 25 years, Mario. Karla had been sick and in a lot of pain for a very long-time suffering from chronic blood clots as well as infections in her blood. We don’t know the cause behind her health issues. She had been in and out of the hospital for over a year and we believe she was discharged too soon causing her to have complications in her home a few days later. At 2am on the 29th the police arrived after she was declared deceased. We don’t have the name of the officer as the situation was chaotic, but the officer overlooked reporting her case to the coroner and filing the report. The officer told us she would be picked up in a few hours. While waiting for her to be picked up immediate family showed up around 8:30 in the morning. She had not been picked up and was still in the room with her young boy Adan sleeping by her side. As a level 3 ASD child there was no prying him away from his momma or him being able to comprehend what had happened. Everyone continued waiting and more family arrived to say their goodbyes. My niece arrived from work around 1:30pm, almost 12 hours after her passing with temperatures of 100 degrees outside, and no A/C, and still no coroner. At around 4:30pm, 15 hours after my niece finally suggested we call and find out the status of the coroner. We were not expecting what we heard from the dispatcher. No record of Karla existed, the officer didn’t file the report or her death. It was heartbreaking and we couldn’t believe they had forgotten our sister! Leaving her in a hot room to sit with her family as we all waited for her to be safely taken out of the home. My sweet nephews had to sit in the in the home with their mother with Adan not leaving her side for almost 18 hours! 18 hours in over 100-degree heat. At around 5pm 2 police officers finally arrived apologized for the mistake and began to redo the process. Officer Stein said something like, “I’m sorry, we are going to have to start this report from the beginning”. Unbelievable. But she was compassionate and did feel remorse for her fellow officer who forgot to phone her in. After her and officer butler’s report they informed us that there would be no coroner arrival because it looked like she had died from natural causes and with no coroner, no autopsy. If we wanted to find out how or why she died, we must pay for a private pathologist to do the autopsy. She apologized again, it wasn’t the officer’s fault, and she was just following protocol. She helped us find a mortuary near us to come pick up my sister. She estimated 90 minutes, well 90 minutes came and went as we continued to sit with my sister in her home with her boys. We called after 90 minutes and we were told another 30-60 minutes. At 8:16pm they finally arrived, the mortuary took her out as fast and as compassionately as they possibly could almost 19 hours later. I’ve never heard of this kind of mistake but I’m sure it happens. We were just the unlucky family on this day, but this did allow us to sit together as a family to reflect on how important family is despite our differences. Family will always be there for you in the end. This also allowed us to sit together to plan her arrangements and to figure out a plan for Mario and the boys. We know the boys were Karla’s world. Karla was their primary at home caregiver and Mario will need a lot of help with the twins while he and the boys navigate this huge loss. Karla had plans to get Adan into speech therapy as he was finally beginning to speak. We hope this LFEBridge can help her achieve her goal of giving her boys a better quality of life. We also hope to get them therapy for what they experienced the night and day of her passing. Adrian is high functioning and super smart and empathetic. We hope to be able to get him in a school that can nurture his intelligence and creativity. Romeo was his mom’s right-hand man; he always helped her with his brothers. Now he will have to step up even more to be their primary care giver along with his father. Romeo is a very passionate, compassionate young man, and a very talented guitarist. Karla nurtured his musical talents and was his biggest supporter with his musical endeavors. Karla leaves behind a very large family who loves her, and her boys, and we just want to ensure that they can be taken care of as well as she would have wanted. They say it takes a village and we are truly grateful for our village. We hope with your donations that he can continue focusing on those musical dreams instead of putting it all aside to care for his little brothers. We hope your donations may help with hiring a compassionate special needs caregiver with ASD knowledge to assist with the twins. As well as a grief therapist for him as well. We also would like to able to get Karla an autopsy to find the cause of death to give her boys and her mother some closure. Finally, we wish to give Karla a proper burial. We want her to know how much she was loved in this life. Your donations will assist in so much. Care for her boys, schooling, therapy, autopsy, and her funeral arrangements. Our Goal is 25k and any additional funds will go to Adan and Adrians long term care. Any donation, large or small, will be accepted with the upmost gratitude. From the bottom of our hearts Thank you. Sincerely, The Tolentino, Lopez and Mendoza family.
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