Hello, my name is Ena Hebert.
I am 25 years old, a mother of 2, and wife of Justin Hebert of Maurice,
LA. I am writing this story in memory of my sister Carla Gemma Hebert.
Carla was born April 4, 1983 at
American Legion Hospital in Crowley, LA. She weighed in at 6lbs. 6oz.
She is the daughter of Marion Hebert and Charlotte Jones of Kaplan. We
have a half brother named Marion Hebert II, and a half sister named Jana
Jones. My son Landon was Carla's godchild, he was 16 months old when she
passed away. Carla was very energetic and a beautiful young lady. Her
and I were close, but not as close as I wish we could have been. We had
our ups and downs, but don't we all. She wanted to see everything. Carla
was always there when you needed her. When our mom and step dad would go
eat out or something, Carla would baby-sit our little sister Jana. She
would always ask Jana if she wanted to pull an all nighter. She had lots
of good friends. She played a few sports in her lifetime. She was a very
hard worker. She would work her night job until 2am in the morning, go
home and sleep awhile, then go to her day job for 9am or 10am the next
morning. She was so full of life. She loved to cook. As a matter of
fact, she had future plans of going to culinary art school to be a chef.
She was a great cake baker/decorator. In the evenings, she would call our
dad at his house and ask him what's for supper, she would then say, I'll
be coming, I have dessert , and she would show up with a cake. She was a
collector of monkeys. Anytime she would see something with monkeys, she
would buy it. When Carla passed away, my cousin who also loves monkeys
told us that we really need to give Carla's monkeys a good home, so we
did. We had some of our cousin's come and pick whichever one they wanted
and bring it to their house. One of her customers that would go to the
restaurant where she worked during the day worked at the granite place and
he was sweet enough to engrave a monkey on the headstone of her grave at
the cemetery.
Carla attended Kaplan High
School where she graduated in May of 2001. She was a member of the band
her freshmen through senior year. She was flag captain her senior year
and was very honored by that. While in the band, she attended festivals
and parades. In her sophomore and senior years, she was able to take a
trip with the band to Gatlinburg, Tennessee. She was constantly talking
about how much fun they had. In her junior year, she was selected to
Who's Who Among American High School Students. In her senior year, she
collected all her spirit shirts. She had our mom make her a blanket ,
which consisted of the front of her shirts on the front side of the
blanket, and the back of her shirts on the back side of her blanket. When
I found her the Sunday morning, she complained she was cold, so I covered
her with that blanket, because that was the only one in sight. Later on,
my aunt went to get that blanket at the hospital and we found out that the
blanket had to be thrown away, because it had the germs on it from this
disease, and the paramedics said it would not be safe in anyone's home.
In 2000, she took a weekend cruise out of New Orleans with the employees
she worked with at the restaurant. They said she climbed the walls, we
didn't believe them, but when we got the pictures in, she really was
climbing the walls. When she got back, she gave our mom some souvenir
cups from the boat and tried to say she bought them for mom. Come to find
out, she had drank her margaritas in them and saved the cups for mom.
Isn't that so silly. She was such a fun person to be around. One day she
went and meet dad at his house and asked him if he could loan her some
money to buy some tires for her car. She told him she had $100, if he
could just loan her $60. He wanted to give her the whole amount, but she
refused. She went have her tires changed, when she was finished, she went
to our dad's house, made him go outside to see how her tires could burn
rubber, then she gave him a thumbs up. She was always cutting up in her
little red Honda Prelude, she loved her car. Every time you would see her
in town, she had her windows down on her car, and her radio was full
blast.
Wednesday-October 31, 2001
Carla cooked an awesome
chicken, sausage and tasso gumbo for all our friends and family to stop by
and eat. It was the best. Ever since then, my husband and I cook a big
gumbo on Halloween night to carry on the tradition.
Friday-November 2, 2001
Carla started complaining of
headaches. She was never one to complain about being sick or even having
headaches. She had allot of problems when she was younger. She had
pneumonia and bronchitis. She had tubes put in her ears approximately 3
times. Every time she would get in the water, she would have to wear
a swimming hat, she was not too crazy about that, but she had no choice,
it protected her ears. She was working at a nite club in Kaplan in the
evenings, and a restaurant in Kaplna during the day. She reported to work
on Friday evening, yet she was not feeling that great, so she pretty much
took it easy.
Saturday-November 3. 2001
Carla went to work for a short
while at her godmother's western store. Our mom called and asked her is
she wanted to go with her to the mall, she told our mom she would call me
to see if I wouldn't mind going and replace her, well I didn't mind at
all, so I did. Carla and mom went to the mall and my mom said that while
they were at the mall, Carla complained about being weak and cold. Well,
my mom brought her home to go and get some rest and told her if she needed
anything not to hesitate to call her. Carla said it felt like she was
getting the flu, because her symptoms were pretty much flu-like symptoms.
At around 6pm Saturday night, she called mom to bring her some medicine
for congestion and nausea, so our mom went to the pharmacy and brought it
to her to take. Carla called in at work and said she would not be able to
make it in that night. Well I called Carla around 9pm that night to see
how she was feeling because I noticed her lights were still on, and I had
talked to mom earlier that day and she said Carla was not feeling that
well, she was going home to rest, she might be coming down with the flu.
She was my next door neighbor. When she answered the phone, I told her I
noticed her lights were on in the bathroom, and I just wanted to check and
see how she was feeling, she said she thought she may be coming down with
the flu, and she did not want to mix with us because she did not want to
get Landon sick. She told me she would call me in the morning, but I
never heard from her.
Sunday-November 4, 2001
I woke up, told my husband I
would run to the store and get a newspaper, and when I got back, I would
go check on Carla and then we would go to church. When I got back home
from the store, I walked over to Carla's house, knocked on the door, she
never answered the door, so I used my key she gave and just walked right
on in. When I walked into her room, there she was lying on her bed, her
body was purple from head to toe. It looked like someone had gone in and
beat her. She was foaming out the mouth and her body was ice cold. She
was very disoriented. All I could think was to call for help, I couldn't
find her phone, come to find out later, it was between her mattress and
headboard, and it was on, she was probably trying to call for help and did
not have the strength to dial the numbers. I ran across the yard to my
house and got my phone and called Carla's godfather for help. I was so
shaken up by then, because I had never seen anything like that before, I
didn't know what to do next. He told me to do mouth to mouth, I was
crying because I did not know how to do it, but I thank GOD I didn't,
because I would have caught this disease. He said I'm on my way, hurry
and call 911, I said you hurry up and get here. All I kept thinking
was somebody help me. In the meantime, I was talking with Carla, I said
"Are you okay," all she could say was "I am cold." So while waiting for
the ambulance to arrive, I covered her with her spirit blanket. Her
godfather arrived and got in touch with our mom and dad. My dad got to
her house and wanted to go in and see her, but the paramedics would not
let him in, because of the condition she was in. The ambulance picked her
up and brought her straight to the ER . When she got there, they pretty
much knew it was some form of meningitis. While she was in the ER at
Kaplan, my dad and step mom were able to go in the room and talk
with her. While they stood at the foot of her bed, the nurse was putting
some injections in her leg, and she asked the nurse where is my family,
and dad spoke up and said we are right here Carla. She asked my dad if
she looked good, and he replied you look beautiful Carla. She asked to
see our mom, and when mom got there, she said mom, when I get out of here,
can you please take me home with you, and mom said I would be glad to.
She was living with our mom until the summer before she passed away when
she made the decision to go and live with our dad, then dad moved out and
she was living on her own in her little rent house. Well, from the ER ,
they Air Med her to Lafayette, they ran all kinds of tests on her and
discovered it was bacterial (meningococcal) meningitis. They did the last
sacraments in the ER . The doctors called mom, dad, and I in to let us
know that we may want to call our priest. They also told us that everyone
that was in contact with her days before her passing should be treated
with antibiotics, so the doctors wrote all of us prescriptions to be
filled right away. We let some of our family that was sitting in the
waiting room know what was going on and we told them to start making calls
to people and get all the prayers we can get. Then some of her friends
started calling to check in and there was really nothing we could tell
them, except if the were in contact with her to get a prescription, and
the main thin was to PRAY. After they ran the tests on her, they took her
up to ICU immediately. Her blood pressure was real low and she had a very
slight pulse. Her arms and legs were swollen, not what my sister with a
weight of between 90 and 100 should look like. It was touch and go all
day Sunday, with her showing signs of improvement.. Later that day, one of
the nurses came in and talked to us and told us that if she survived this
ordeal that they would have to amputate her smaller limbs, because the
blood had nowhere to flow. Sometimes I think about what her life would be
like today if she would have pulled through this, but the condition she
was in, she is in a much better place than we are. I guess when it's your
time, GOD will take you to that special place to meet my little sister
Carla Gemma.
Monday-November 5, 2001
Her kidneys were working fine
and so was her oxygen level which was reduced 40%, considering that Sunday
night, it was 100%. My mom, dad, and I were seeing a lot of positive
signs from Carla, but that all changed Tuesday morning.
Tuesday-November 6, 2001
My aunt and my mom spent the
night at the hospital Monday night. My mom went to take her shower a few
minutes after 6am. My aunt said while mom was taking her shower, she
heard over the intercom Code Blue ICU, and she knew that was it for
Carla. Mom never heard those words, because the water was running in the
shower. At 6:30am, Carla died of congestive heart failure caused by a
blood clot to the lungs. The nurses went to the room and let my mom know
that Carla had passed away, then she contacted me, and I contacted our
dad.
Wednesday-January 19, 2005
Carla always said that if she
ever had a baby girl, she would name her Jenee. Well, January 19, 2005,
my husband and I had a beautiful 7lbs. 10oz. baby girl and we named her
Carli Janae after Carla and our half sister Jana. Everyone tells us how
sweet that was for us to do that.
Until we meet again, I Love You
Carla Gemma. Please continue to watch over us and keep us safe. You
truly are my Guardian Angel. LOVE YOU ALWAYS AND FOREVER, Your Big Sister
Ena Rachelle
P.S. The only advice I could
give:
Parents: Never let your
children live alone.
Children: Don't
Wait-Vaccinate!
