For the funeral and memorial expenses of our dear, sweet Marissa:

Gone way too soon at just the age of 33. A heartbreaking shock to many, but we all knew that her life would eventually be cut short, but just how short? Little did we know, tomorrow would start without her. At a loss of what to say or even do at this moment in time, our family is still broken and attempting to fix the pieces from the loss of our Grandmother just 3 months ago. Marissa Dawn, what a true warrior she really was, never did she give up. Strong, brave, humorous, beautiful, and bold are just a few words to sum up Marissa. She absolutely loved the holidays and always had the best festive holiday attire; her favorite being Christmas. She made sure to send out Christmas cards every year to family and friends , as well as random letters here and there throughout the year just to say hi ( I’ll really miss those letters). The love she had for her cats throughout the years comes to mind as well when I think of her, they were like her best friends, companions, and comfort to help guide her through this life. The girl absolutely hated Mayo, but love, loved pickles! The Wizard of Oz movie was a childhood favorite of hers that was watched together often. I sure hope you have a pair of those ruby red slippers now and dancing around in them showing off. We’d also all draw on each others backs and then guess what we drew up. Hi Ho Cherry-O and Shutes and Ladders were favorite games too. For some reason, I was always her favorite; best cousins for life is what we’d always say, and still said to this day. She was always my little shadow, and to be able to never feel or see that again is beyond hurtful to even think about. Even though she highly looked up to me as a person, I know she looked up to us all in different, loving ways of her own. This amazing soul, even in a wheelchair, she still knew how to shine so bright! She never was once afraid to speak up and fight for who she truly really was still deep down inside, even though most saw her and treated her differently because of the way she looked on the outside. Marissa’s life completely changed at just the age of 18 , just a few months shy of her high school graduation. Diagnosed with a cancerous brain tumor, surgery was immediate. The cancer was removed, but during the process a horrible medical tragedy happened to where Marissa lost all motor skills to where she had to learn how to walk, talk, read, write , and so much more all over again. Amazingly she progressed so well and accomplished some of life’s blessings all over again; slowly she built up her health, her beauty, and looked and felt close to herself again, yet still unable to walk. Somewhere down the line things started to decline once more; she was sick, weaker, anxiety, depression and fear took over. Through it all, she never gave up and still wanted to be here, even though her cards that were dealt were so unfair. The way she had to live wasn’t a way of life for anyone, and she sadly was reminded of that each and every day. Marissa still did her best each day, she was so determined to just be normal again no matter how long it took. She was always positive and hopeful; I think we all were. Unfortunately we are all saddened she left us so soon, and we can only hope that heaven can treat her so much better. We love you so very much Marissa , play some games up there with Papa & Grandma for us all! I can see all 3 of you hugging each other, smiling down on us. May you finally be at peace and live the life that you truly wanted and deserved. 

Your forever best cousin, Jennifer