Carmela's Heart is a foundation created by Carmela Mendiri Garza's mother and godmother, inspired by her heart; the heart of a girl who, since she came to this world, filled us with joy, with lessons, and made us feel that God had a special mission for her. Always happy, loving, understanding, a mediator among her friends, generous, especially moved by those in need, even during her illness ... a girl with a true vocation for service.
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On June 7th 2020, our Carmela passed away, at the age of fifteen, after two years of surgeries, including the disarticulation of her right leg, chemotherapies and radiation, trying to defeat a rare and aggressive bone cancer, with metastases in the lungs, called, Osteosarcoma.
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Despite the painful circumstances, Carmela always kept her soul and smile intact, as well as her desire to serve and relieve. She showed us the difference of living a difficult and unexpected experience when you decide to unify your pain with that of Christ and thus, without intending it, she transformed hearts in her wake, comforting, relieving, and inspiring all of us who accompany her, with her positivity, strength, and sweetness.
Her fleeting, but deeply and intensely lived life, reminds us of transience, directs our gaze to Heaven and leads us to question how prepared we are to present ourselves to the Father, when He so decides.
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Carmela's heart was not limited, she knew that the secret was to do small acts loaded with great love, always starting from the genuine desire to provide relief, to lovingly impact the life of another human being.
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Carmela's transition through illness and her passage to eternal life has been a profoundly transformative experience for those of us who love her, and together with the intercessory prayer of all those who accompanied us in this difficult process of seeing her leave, it has resulted in this beautiful project, which in her honor, inspired by her heart, and under the light of the Gospel, exists, to bring relief to those who suffer, inviting them to do works of mercy so that one day, we may reach Heaven with hands full of deeds before the heavenly Father, as our Carmela did.
Our story is the story of everyone who allows God's entrance, who makes everything new, to accompany him in his moments of suffering and tribulation.
It is the Lord who tells you... here I am with you... give me your pain, that I am going to transform it into something new, into something beautiful, give me your wounds, that I am going to teach you how they heal by providing relief to those who need it... just place your sight on me and don't be afraid. That is our story... one of many, transformed by Jesus of Nazareth.
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Maria Laura and
Carmen Alicia Garza
Founders of
Carmela's Heart Foundation
"Because I was hungry and you fed me ..."
Mt. 25, 35.
Welcome to Carmela's Heart ...
we need you!