A memorial for Melinda Rodriguez at the entrance of the Bayside Grill
People can scarcely believe she is gone. Melinda Rodriguez touched the hearts of everyone she met. A waitress at the Coronado Golf Course’s Bayside Grill, she was beloved by all who knew her. “She always met someone with a big smile and sometimes a big hug,” said Stephen Schroeder, a Coronado Bayside Grill regular.
Rodriguez died on February 15, 2015, due to sepsis-induced renal failure, just seven days after she gave birth to Chelsea Marie Jones, her only child, at Sharp Grossmont Hospital. Rodriguez was 45 years old. While there is nothing they can do to bring Rodriguez back, her friends and co-workers are raising money to secure Baby Chelsea’s financial future.
The baby is being cared for by her father, Stanley Jones, and Rodriguez’s roommate, according Casey Cuyugan, a close friend and coworker. There is also a large extended family; Rodriquez was one of eight children. With her father, aunts, uncles, and cousins, Chelsea Marie will have all the love and emotional support in abundance. But, as is often the case when unexpected tragedy strikes, money is in short supply, so her Bayside Grill family has stepped in to help, setting up a fund for Baby Chelsea.
On Friday, March 6, the golf course is holding a memorial tournament and reception to honor both mother and child. The nine-hole, shotgun start, two-man net scramble begins at 2 p.m. The entry cost is $100 per entrant. After the tournament, at 4:30 p.m., there will be a celebration of Rodriguez’s life. Everyone, golfers and nongolfers alike, is invited to attend the celebration. There will be appetizers, a cash bar and a raffle for prizes people have donated. At the celebration service, donations for Baby Chelesea will be accepted. Additionally, a percentage of the bar receipts from the celebration will be donated to the trust fund as well, said Dorene Bailey, the restaurant’s general manager.
The staff and restaurant regulars are still reeling from the shock of Rodriquez’s death. “It’s horrible. The one thing Melinda wanted most in life was to have a baby,” Bailey said. According to Rodriguez’s friends, that she became pregnant at all was a bit of a miracle. She had been told she could never have children. “When she started feeling bloated, her doctor told her it was gastroenteritis,” said Cuyugan. “It wasn’t gastroenteritis; it was a baby.”
Cuyugan was with Rodriguez in the delivery room. “She broke down in tears when she first saw the baby,” Cuyugan said. “She was so happy.”
That was Sunday, February 8; seven days later Rodriquez was dead. “She was in pain the whole time,” Cuyugan said. “She left the hospital on Tuesday, went back in on Saturday [because the pain had become too intense to bear] and was put on life support a few hours later.” She died the next day, seven days after Chelsea Marie was born. The pain was from a bacterial infection of the uterus that led to sepsis and then renal failure.
Developing sepsis after giving birth is uncommon, but not rare. According to a study contducted by the University of Michigan in 2012, sepsis occurs following one out of every 3,333 births. Severe sepsis, the type that can be lead to organ failure, has a mortality rate of one in 7,250 according to the study. Sadly, the rate has risen in the recent years, more than doubling since 1998.
While it is clear that that Rodriguez died from sepsis-induced renal failure, there are still some questions around her death and an autopsy is underway.
Whatever the underlying causes, Rodriquez’s death just when she finally had what she wanted most in life seems a cruel fate for anyone, but especially for someone remembered by her friends as being so kind and good.
“She was one of the most giving people I ever met [even through] she never expected anyone to do anything for her without trying to pay for the help.” Schroeder said. Still, he is sure that “she would be proud that the baby would be a living memory of her to all who knew her.”
Rodriguez worked at the golf course restaurant for four years, and nearly everyone who knew her during those years mentions her smile.
Friend Kim Borden, a fellow waitress at the Bayside Grill, remembered Rodriguez’s cheerful attitude. “She had this wonderful smile. You could be having the worst day of your life and you would see her smile and everything would be better.”
A crowdfunding account for people contribute directly to the trust fund. In just 12 days, more than $12,081 has been donated.
Contact Dorene Bailey with any questions: 619-435-1740
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Gloria Tierney
Staff Writer
eCoronado.com
