‘Wonder woman’ lives, but funeral debts mount

By Carmen Russo
Posted 6/21/16

Melissa Sue Senecal had a nickname at Rhode Island Hospital. “Wonder Woman” was written on a board with her room number and nurse’s name. When the 34-year-old was killed in a car accident last …

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‘Wonder woman’ lives, but funeral debts mount

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Melissa Sue Senecal had a nickname at Rhode Island Hospital. “Wonder Woman” was written on a board with her room number and nurse’s name. When the 34-year-old was killed in a car accident last month, her organs were donated and she saved four lives. One kidney went to a teenager with cancer. The other was donated to a relative who had been on dialysis five days a week, four hours a day for the past two years. Her liver was matched to an older man who had been fighting cancer for years. Her heart saved a man with 72 hours left to live.

“It’s the only thing that’s keeping me sane, knowing that she helped all those people,” said Melissa’s father, SMSgt Michael Senecal, with the 143rd Airlift Wing of the Rhode Island Air National Guard.

When Melissa was pronounced brain dead early in the morning on May 6, her parents had to make a decision. Their daughter had never hesitated to help people in need, and they knew this time wouldn’t have been any different. So the search for matches began. The process proved to be a grueling roller coaster for Michael and his wife of 30 years, Wendy, who clapped and cheered when matches were found but still felt the loss of their only child.

“It was excruciating pain, because our daughter just laid there,” Michael said. “She was already gone.”

The two find comfort in thinking of their daughter living on through the people she saved, and both hope to meet the recipients.

“I just want to see where a piece of her went and how well they’re doing,” Wendy said.

The night of the accident, Melissa was on the phone with a friend while she was driving to his house. He heard her words start to slur and then he heard the crash. Melissa had started anti-seizure medication a few months before and was told there was a 95 percent chance she would never have another seizure. But her parents think it is likely she had one while driving, causing her to hit the gas and send her car through a fence and into the air. The car flipped six times before it crashed on top of a sander in a nearby junkyard. She was only 1,000 yards from her friend’s house.

Now Michael and Wendy are left with Melissa’s funeral expenses and debt, since she did not have life insurance. Without Michael’s knowledge, his co-workers at the 143rd Logistics Readiness Squadron planned a memorial dinner to help with expenses. More than 200 tickets have been sold so far.

“Everybody’s really stepped up,” Michael said. “I’m truly amazed at the support and love we’ve gotten from people.”

The goal is to pay off Melissa’s debt, but her parents would like to use any extra money they have to buy her a gravestone. Michael made the thick, oblong shape of it with his worn out hands. He explained that they would carve out the middle and fill it with pictures of her and mementos of things she loved, like playing bingo with her mom and watching Tony Romo play for the Dallas Cowboys.

The memorial dinner will be held at the West Valley Inn on Thursday, June 23 from 5:00 to 9:00 p.m. Tickets can be bought in advance for $25 and online or at the door for $30. All proceeds will go to the Melissa Senecal Memorial Fund. The night will be a celebration, according to Michael.

“I just want people to know how amazing our daughter was,” he said.

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