My name is Lee Culbertson. Many people have reached out on how they could help us out, this was the easiest way. Let me first say thank you and please take a moment to read about our family. I met my wonderful wife Rizalyne while working at Chuck E. Cheese back in 1995. She was 4 years older than I was at the time, and well, I thought that was pretty sweet considering I was in high school and dating a college student. A year passed and I joined the Marines. Riz said she’d wait for me. She kept herself busy going to school and working 3 jobs. She worked as a teller at Sumitomo Bank, was a manager at Lakewood Chuck E. Cheese, and a waitress at Denny’s. She managed to do all of this for two years while I was deployed overseas. We finally got married on July 28th, 2001. One of my greatest memories I will never forget. But soon after, I had to leave for deployment again. 9/11 happened, and I left for almost a year deployed to Afghanistan on the 13th Marine Expeditionary Force. We safely made it home and we were both looking forward to starting a family. I was only home for 3 months before I got orders to deploy again, this time to Iraq. I left on a Wednesday in early January, leaving my wife again, this time for an unknown amount of time. Little did I know, Riz found out she was pregnant that Friday morning, but I was already gone and I wouldn’t get to find out until Valentine’s Day. I got a 5-minute satellite call home and couldn’t believe the news. A week later, mail started rolling in. Letters from Riz and my family all excited to let me know we had a little one on the way. I was so happy but sad because I might miss the birth of my first child. Through letters, I found out we were gonna have a baby boy. One fateful day while in Iraq, my commanding officer went into a long meeting. I was his driver that day and before he went into the meeting, he handed me the sat phone and said, “I’m not sure how long I’ll be, but the phone’s yours, use it till the battery dies.” Oh, I couldn’t wait. I had so many questions and the thought of unlimited talking was unbelievable. At the time, my wife Riz was living with my sister Kim. I called home and Kim answered the phone. It was late at night, Kim was surprised to hear my voice but when she went to wake up Riz, something was wrong. Kim was worried but told me Riz was deep asleep and was really tired. Kim asked if I could call back in a few minutes so she could wake up Riz and she’d be ready to talk. I agreed, but in the back of my mind, something didn’t seem right. I had connection issues so I wasn’t able to call back for about 20 minutes or so. When I finally did, my stepmom Jane answered the phone. She proceeded to tell me that Riz was not responding and the paramedics were taking her to the hospital. The thought was she was low on insulin and was in a diabetic coma, but that wasn’t the case. Jane asked if I could call back in an hour once she was admitted and they could get more information. For an hour, I was in shock praying for everything to be okay. About 45 minutes went by, I couldn’t wait any longer. I called and Kim answered the phone. The emergency room doctor was just coming out to speak with the family. Kim asked the doctor to speak to me since I was her husband. Dr. Green got on the phone. I explained I was deployed overseas and asked if he could explain her situation. He told me that she had suffered a severe brain aneurysm and that she had been in a coma for over 4 hours. He said that from his experience, there is nothing they can do and that I should try to come home as soon as possible to plan for final arrangements. At that time, my satellite connection was lost and I could not reconnect. I sat in my Humvee crying and in disbelief. Not only was I losing my wife but also my unborn son. I’m not sure how long I sat there praying and grieving. When my C.O. returned, he asked what was wrong. When I told him, he got out of the Humvee, made some calls, and got right back in. He said we will get you home as fast as we can. He told me to switch seats and he drove us back to our unit. But along the way, we met up with them on a road outside of Baghdad. He apparently told them to meet us on the way. The plan was to get me to the quickest airfield. We started driving away when our radio operator said he managed to get in touch with a helicopter that was close by. They explained the situation over the radio and just 5 minutes later, a Huey landed on the small dirt road and picked me up. They flew me straight to a forward air base where I met up with an old staff sergeant I had been stationed with in Okinawa. He was already aware of the situation and had me flying out on a KC-110 refueling plane. He said that was the quickest he could get me back to Kuwait. I would just need to wait for them to do an aerial refueling before heading to Camp Doha in Kuwait. Hours had gone by. I sat in the plane, quiet, somber, and teary-eyed. My wife was gone. I didn’t know what to think. I arrived sometime late at night. When the plane landed, there was already a Humvee and driver waiting for me. He told me he was instructed to take me to medical and then to administration. The medical team did a full physical to ensure I wasn’t exposed to any chemicals or radiation and to ensure I was fit to leave the country. When I arrived at the admin group, I ran into another staff sergeant who I had previously deployed to Afghanistan with. She said when the radio request came through to get me home, she remembered me and knew that I lived in Orange County. She arranged my flight so I would fly into Orange County to get closest to home. It took me 3 days to get home. I was able to call from a pay phone when I arrived in Germany. My sister told me that Riz was still alive. Still in a coma but not deceased. Kim and Jane picked me up from John Wayne Airport in late May. They snuck me into the back of the emergency room so I could go straight to Riz without being overwhelmed by family. She was breathing on her own, eyes closed and sleeping. The doctors and nurses said it was a good sign. She was showing that she wanted to live, her brain activity was normal, and our baby was healthy. We just had to wait for her to wake up from her coma. She remained in the hospital for over a month. She began to show signs she was coming around. Sometime in mid-June, she was alert and awake but was suffering from short-term memory loss. She remembered me as a co-worker from Chuck E. Cheese but nothing more. She was confused as to why I was there and why no one else from work was visiting her. I would explain everything to her but just seconds later, she would forget. Like the movie 50 First Dates. I lived it. With “10-second Riz.” They released her to my care. The Marines told me to stay home and take care of my family and not to worry about anything. I would just check in with them weekly for updates. For the next two months, I lived with a co-worker who wasn’t aware she was pregnant and wondered why she wasn’t home with her parents. Her mom and dad visited us every day. I reminded her all the time we were married and that she was pregnant. She went to therapy to help regain her memory and work with her speech and occupational needs. Early September, we went to the hospital for a baby check-up. The doctor didn’t like her blood pressure so we were admitted over the weekend for observation. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to see a doctor till Monday. They did some tests and said we’d need to stay until they got results. Around 3:30 pm, Monday, September 8th, 2003, the doctor came in and said they were going to do an emergency C-section for both Riz’s safety and our son’s. They wheeled her away. I quickly made a few phone calls to tell family to get to the hospital and our beautiful son Brandon was born just after 5 pm. He was only 4 lbs, 7 oz, and 11 inches long. He was healthy and had strong lungs. They monitored him in the NICU for 4 hours before handing him over to us in the recovery room. Miraculously, when Riz held Brandon, memories began coming back and she regained her full memory. After a few days, we went home and began raising our son. I left the Marines to stay home and be with my family and for the next 18 years, we lived a happy life. Then COVID struck. In November of 2020, Riz complained of back pain and a swollen stomach that was hard to the touch. I panicked and took her to the emergency room. I had to drop her off and wasn’t allowed to stay. The hospital staff took my information and explained they would contact me. Two days later, they discharged her with instructions to return to see her primary doctor and that they scheduled her appointment for early the next day. When we arrived, her doctor was surprised to see we were with her and asked if we knew why we were there. We explained that no one had told us anything. She excused herself from the room and when she returned, she told us to go to the 6th floor where we would meet with the head of oncology. Dr. Samina Ahmed informed us that Riz had stage 4 colon cancer that had metastasized to her liver and that she would need immediate chemo treatment. She explained that Riz’s liver was only 10% functioning and was almost failing, and that the chemo treatment itself could kill her. She wanted to microdose her with chemo for over a 6-day period. We agreed to treatment. We went home while they prepped a room for her instead of waiting in a room full of people with COVID. While at home, we explained to our son Brandon what was happening. Both Brandon and I explained how deeply we loved her and gave her hugs for once she left, we weren’t sure if she would be coming home again. I had to drop Riz off at the hospital again, said goodbye, and told her I loved her. She went to her room, received treatment, and again Brandon and I prayed every day for her to come home. A week later, we got a call to come and pick her up. The treatment went well and from then on, she would need to continually receive chemo for the rest of her life. For the next 5 years, Riz lived strong doing the things she loved. She watched our son graduate high school, meet his first girlfriend, make many friends through our son’s soccer families, and also with her love for bowling. As a family, we made an effort to do things with her. My parents and I bowled with her on Tuesday nights, my son and I and her brother Randy bowled Friday and then Sunday nights with her. She was so strong. Never once during chemo did she suffer from nausea or loss of appetite. She always wanted to eat. She just couldn’t eat much. But she snacked all day long. At one point, she was even able to return to work at AT&T all the way in Van Nuys, where she worked with close friends. Even when she had to go back on disability again, all she talked about was how she wanted to be back in the office doing her normal routine. Unfortunately, she just wasn’t getting strong enough. Recently, we discussed her permanently retiring and collecting disability and not returning to work. It was a really tough decision for her, but when she came to terms, she was excited. She said now she can focus on herself and do stuff with us. She was home so much and was wanting to learn how to cook. She was making plans to take a class with our son to bond and spend more time together. But this past Friday, God had other plans. In the early morning of Friday, Oct 10th, Riz passed away peacefully. Unexpected to all of us. Now the love of my life, my best friend, my everything has left me. It’s just me and Brandon now. We will struggle to move on, our house will be more empty, we will miss Riz’s laugh, her smile, and her competitiveness. For those of you who had the privilege of meeting, talking, and becoming friends with her, would all agree that the world has truly lost a kind and friendly soul. Our “firsts” will be difficult: first Thanksgiving, Christmas, and so on. We know it will be hard. But we know we have a strong and loving family and community to help us survive. For us all of the things that have happened throughout our life together, there is power in prayer. There are no coincidences, things happen for a reason. Our story proves that. We know Riz is with her Mom, Dad and Sister in Heaven. We know she isn’t suffering anymore and has now moved on to her next part of being. I will forever miss you, Riz. I love you with all of my heart!

At this time we have not made or scheduled a service as we are still trying to make arrangements and inform family that live out of state and country. Once a Date has been set we will reach out with details.

We are fundraising to cover the medical expenses and funeral costs for Riz.