“I wish I could be there.”
Under normal circumstances, Rose Mary Villarrubia Izzo would
be in Puerto Rico right now, helping friends and family devastated by Hurricane
Maria. However, this past year has been anything but normal for the long-time
Red Cross volunteer and Greater Rochester Chapter Board member.
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| Rose Mary Villarrubia Izzo (r) with MGO Lorraine Clements at the Greater Rochester Chapter Volunteer Salute in October (Photo by: Tony Zollo, American Red Cross) |
“I went to the doctor because I had a migraine,” she says.
“The CT scan said I had a tiny aneurysm. The doctor sent me to a neurologist,
who sent me to a neurosurgeon. They discovered I had a Size 6 aneurysm. They
told me they start rupturing at Size 4, and they had to operate immediately.”
Rose Mary was hesitant to do the surgery. She was told she
had only a 50/50 chance of surviving, and even if she did, she may not be able
to walk or talk, and could lose her memory.
“I walked out of the doctor’s office in total devastation,”
she says. “But they told me if I didn’t have the surgery, I had a 100% chance
of dying.”
So, Rose Mary underwent the brain surgery, followed by
several long, difficult months of recuperation. Despite being under doctor’s
order to stay as stress-free as possible, Villarrubia Izzo, who has been a part
of disaster relief operations including Hurricanes Hugo and George during her
32 years with the Red Cross, worried about her nieces and nephews in Texas
after Hurricane
Harvey, and her in-laws in Florida as Hurricane
Irma made landfall. Then, Hurricane
Maria absolutely devastated her birthplace, Puerto Rico, where much of her family still lives.
“Every time I looked at videos, my heart stopped,” she says.
“I kept waiting to see if any family members would pop up in the news. One of
my cousins found a fish on the top of their house! They lost everything.”
Rose Mary moved with her parents to Rochester when she was
five years old, but spent summers and holidays with her grandparents, aunts,
uncles, and cousins in Puerto Rico, and her parents moved back after 18 years.
“Dad wanted to stay in Puerto Rico during this devastation
and keep an eye on the house,” she said.
Her parents are in their 80s, and
she knew that they couldn’t stay in an area with no power, potable water, or
functional hospitals after Maria. Rose
Mary worked to get them to join her in Rochester. After flights were cancelled six times, she arranged a relief flight, and they arrived safe two weeks ago and are now staying with her daughter. However,
Rose Mary felt she needed to do more to help her homeland.
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| Rose Mary Villarrubia Izzo (3rd from left, red dress) was instrumental in helping raise over $100,000 to support Maria relief efforts during a telethon on September 25 |
“God kept me here for a reason,” says the deeply religious
Villarrubia Izzo. After being convinced
that her medical condition made it impossible
for her to go to Puerto Rico herself, Rose Mary began to use connections formed
through 30 years with the Rochester City School District and the City of
Rochester to help raise financial
support for the Red Cross relief operations. She
was instrumental in the raising of over $100,000 during a telethon on
September 25, and
helped ensure that proceeds from the City of
Rochester’s ROC Relief event a week later also supported the Red Cross
efforts. She represented the Red Cross during a concert at
the Diplomat Banquet Center that raised over $5,000, and is currently working on
another event with Country/Rock music group, “Stanby”, which will be held on November 26 at Three Heads Brewery, with all proceeds going to the Red Cross.
“I feel very proud that I’m capable health-wise to do it,”
Rose Mary said. “I’m sad that I can’t go, but at least I can help from here.
That’s why God kept me here. I know I can make a difference.”
Rose Mary started with the Red Cross 32 years ago through the
Youth
Leadership Program, which she is still involved with today. She says
that the only way to truly understand all that she’s seen the Red Cross do for
the community is to become a
part of it yourself.
“If you can make a difference in someone’s life, you need to
do it,” she says. “The purpose of helping pulled me out of a lot of depression,
and I’m so happy to be here to do it.”
-Jay Bonafede, American Red Cross
