Jessica Martinez 10-13 Benefit THIS Friday Night!

[Guest paramedico987]

Our friend and co-worker, Jessica Martinez, has passed away due to complications from surgery. Jessica had an expected chance for survival of less than 10%.

Jess is the 24 year old single mother of a six year old boy, Jeremy. She is a dedicated and skilled EMT.

Please join us for a 10-13 party to raise money for Jessica and her son Jeremy on August 25, 2006 at Barney McNabb's Pub on Tuckahoe Rd, Yonkers at 19:00.

see flyer at:

10-13 Party Flyer

YOUR SUPPORT IS GREATLY NEEDED AND APPRECIATED!

[x635 4,066]

REMINDER: ITS THIS FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fundraiser to aid son of EMT

By DESIREE GRAND

THE JOURNAL NEWS

How to help

The fundraiser for Jeremy Acosta will be held tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Barney McNabbs Pub, 600 Tuckahoe Road, Yonkers. There is a $20 donation at the door. Food and music will be provided.

Donations also can be sent to Mabel Melendez, c/o Jeremy Acosta, Empress Emergency Medical Services, 722 Nepperhan Ave., Yonkers, N.Y. 10704.

YONKERS — Friends and family of Jessica Martinez had planned a fundraiser to help the 24-year-old with medical expenses.

But in a tragic turn of the events, the gathering will now serve as an homage to the young emergency medical technician and the money raised will go to the 5-year-old son she leaves behind.

Martinez, an EMT for Empress Emergency Services in Yonkers, died Sunday of complications after gallbladder surgery.

Her co-workers and friends planned the fundraiser when Martinez first began showing signs that the surgery had not gone as planned. That she would succumb to the series of complications that followed was the last thing they thought would happen.

"We were not ready for this," said her brother, Richard Martinez.

Her family described Martinez as a devoted mother to her son, Jeremy Evan Acosta. She had dreams of becoming a nurse and thought working as an EMT would help her with that goal. She loved to dance with her son and had a voice that rivaled pop singer Mariah Carey, said her sister, Anna Martinez.

"She was my best friend," Anna Martinez said.

Now the family is preparing to raise Jeremy. He will be staying with Martinez's mother, Rosaria Woods. Woods said her grandson doesn't fully realize the loss of his mother, although he does refer to her as an "angel in heaven."

"He told me I was going to 'birth' him now," Woods said of Jeremy's attempt to say that he will be raised by her. "There is nothing that will ever replace his mother."

Also grieving is Martinez's boyfriend, Christopher King. They lived together in Yorktown Heights and were planning to get married soon. The couple met at Empress but didn't start dating until he left the ambulance company to start his own business. Martinez had originally tried to pair him up with one of her sisters but they discovered they were better suited for each other.

"No one matches her," King said. "She was funny. She was smart. She had a crystal heart. She was one of God's angels. She was everything a guy could want."

King, 26, said Martinez would never show she was having a bad day and always had a smile on her face. Even in the few days before her death, heavily medicated and overwhelmed by pain, she tried to keep a positive outlook. Martinez spent a month in the hospital.

"Knowing Jessie was to be touched by someone special," King said.

Empress staff agreed, saying that in the three years Martinez worked there everyone came to care for her.

"Jessica was a distinguished member of the Empress team. She was an accomplished EMT with a true talent for providing a personal and reassuring approach to all those she cared for," said Daniel Minerva, vice president of operations at Empress. "Our patients and the emergency services community have lost one of the stars of our field. Our staff has lost a valued friend and partner."

Co-workers said Martinez had a passion for her work.

"We never thought this would happen," said Dana Piscopo. "Jessica was a fighter."

Piscopo quickly became friends with the young mother, and when she and other workers learned Martinez was ill they knew they had to come together.

"We are doing this for Jeremy now," she said.

Martinez's wake will be held today from 2 to 9 p.m. in the Bronx. She will be buried in New Jersey, where her mother lives, tomorrow.

[nelbueno 0]

I’m heart broken after reading this news!

I never meet Jessica, but I’m an EMT and I feel like she is one of our sisters.

I will attend the 10-13 tonight.

I’ve also decided to donate a trophy (Best Ambulance Corp) at the County Convention Parade being hold in Elmsford September 16th.

I will keep Jessica and her Son in my prayers.

Nelson Diaz

Elmsford EMT FF

Irvington EMT

[COMMANDCHIEF 4]

Can't attend, but is there a place we can send a few bucks to support the cause?

[nelbueno 0]

Can't attend, but is there a place we can send a few bucks to support the cause?

←

Here is the address:

Donations also can be sent to Mabel Melendez, c/o Jeremy Acosta, Empress Emergency Medical Services, 722 Nepperhan Ave., Yonkers, N.Y. 10704.

[ems-buff 81]

To everyone who came lastnight.

THANK YOU!!!!!!!

unfortanly we lost a great person, but i thought that the amont of support the we got was amazeing. I we rasie alot of money, but i don't remember it full amont.

I thank you all again for helping out.

Edited August 26, 2006 by ems-buff