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Ondria Chavez
"She thought the good Lord was going to have some answers for her."
Ronald Chavez
Ondria Chavez's father
Life Stories
This feature chronicles the lives of recently deceased Tucsonans. Some were well-known across the community. Others had an impact on a smaller sphere of friends, family and acquaintances. Many of these people led interesting — and sometimes extraordinary — lives with little or no fanfare. Now you'll hear their stories. Past "Life Stories" are online at go.azstarnet.com/lifestories
"She was unique from other people. She would always be happy, no matter what. Even if she was having a messed-up day, she would try to keep a smile on her face."
Clarissa Nido, Chavez's friend

Tucson Region

Ondria Chavez: 'Don't be sad. Just help me pray 4 a miracle'

By Kimberly Matas
arizona daily star
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 09.27.2007
"My name's Ondria and I'm 17. I'm a senior in high school who just went through the worst summer of her life."
Ondria Chavez should have been filling her MySpace page with news that she'd be starting her senior year at Pueblo Magnet High School as the president of the audio-visual club.
Or blogging about what career options best combined her talents for fashion, interior design and technology.
Or chatting about music, movies and weekend plans.
Instead, she wrote about the brain tumor that would kill her within weeks of her diagnosis.
Midsummer, her vision began blurring. A month later, her neck started to ache. By the middle of July, Chavez couldn't lift her arm to reach for the shampoo bottle while taking a shower. For the next two months, until her death Sept. 14, her family shuttled her from doctor to doctor, hospital to hospital in Tucson and Phoenix.
Eventually she was diagnosed with Grade 3 anaplastic astrocytoma — a malignant tumor that kills most of those afflicted.
"With this disease there are four grades so as you can imagine a grade 3 isn't looking so good."
"She didn't understand how they couldn't diagnose it," said her older sister, Ronna Chavez.
"She thought the good Lord was going to have some answers for her," said her father, Ronald Chavez.
"Since the docs in Phoenix were not able to find this out sooner the tumor has begun to grow more within my spine and throughout my brain."
Instead of shopping for new school clothes with her friends, Chavez was receiving radiation and chemotherapy treatments.
She was tech-savvy and looking forward to heading up the audio-visual club this year and having a say in what appeared on the school's Web site.
"She had a knack for technology and audio-visual stuff," said Pueblo's webmaster and A.V. tech Adalberto Rodriguez. "She was always on the computer exploring stuff and learning new things. She was a good resource for me because she would be on top of the new technology, what was popular with the kids, what Web sites they were visiting."
Chavez also produced segments for Pueblo's radio station, which has a three-mile radius around the school. But it was design that really interested the teen, her sister said.
"She wanted to go into interior design," Ronna Chavez said. "She liked decorating houses. She tried to change everything around the house. She was very color-coordinated. She didn't like things to look ugly. She wanted to make them look good."
She spent many hours discussing trends and looking at photos of clothing with friends Krystal Alcantar and Clarissa Nido.
"She was into fashion. She always had to match. If she was wearing green she had to wear green eye shadow," Alcantar said.
But her fashion sense and beaming smile were only part of her appeal.
"She was really outgoing, a good person to talk to, a good person for advice, a good person to cheer you up," Nido said. "She was unique from other people. She would always be happy, no matter what. Even if she was having a messed-up day, she would try to keep a smile on her face."
"She would always make us happy when we were down," Alcantar said. "She'd make up goofy jokes and say the craziest things."
"The docs have raised the dosage of radiation they are allowed to give me and the chemo has to stay the same. The docs are giving this all nine days for the tumor to shrink. If after the nine days there is no change, I have chosen to go home and live out the rest of my time here with those who love me most."
Monica Castillo is married to Chavez's cousin. She saw her the night she died.
In her final days, there were medications, treatments and devices that could have prolonged — though not saved — her life. Yet the teen opted to discontinue medical intervention that would have kept her tethered to a sickbed and in a state of semi-consciousness, Castillo said.
"She didn't want her medication anymore because it made her in and out of consciousness," Castillo said. "She wanted to be there and know the people who were there."
"There is no cure for this cancer and if treatments begin to respond they say I could have as much as 18 months left. The swelling in my spine is so significant that it is crushing the nerves that allow me to breathe and the treatments will just buy me a little more time. I chose not to be on a breathing tube fearing they will never be able to take it out."
"She was very spunky, very vibrant, full of life and always willing to help others and always cared for others. She had a very good positive outlook on life," Castillo said. "She went through her times when she was very scared. She didn't want to die. But in the very end she found peace."
"I'm not afraid and have come to terms with what my future will hold. Don't be sad. Just help me pray 4 a miracle. I love you all! xoxoxoxo"
● To suggest someone for Life Stories, contact reporter Kimberly Matas at 73-4191 or kmatas@azstarnet.com. Read more from this reporter at her blog: go.azstarnet.com/lastwrites
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