By Keighla Schmidt, Staff Writer

An Angell has earned her wings.

Marrisa Angell, 20, of Savage, lost her fight with brain cancer on Dec. 20. And her Dec. 23 funeral is not the way her parents, Norma and Charlie, imagined spending Christmas.

“Christmas has always been my favorite time of year. Being with family was so important to Marissa. However, seeing her cousins opening their gifts will be a struggle for me,” Norma said. “I know Marissa will always be our Christmas angel. Her name was so fitting.”

This isn’t the first time the Angell family has had a holiday plagued with sorrow.

Marissa’s brain tumor was initially detected on her 19th birthday, Oct. 15, 2008. She had started her first semester at Minnesota State University-Mankato that fall after graduating from Prior Lake High School. Angells: Marissa
Angell (center) with
her parents Charlie and
Norma. Angell died on
Dec. 20 after battling a
brain tumor.

When Norma would get text messages from her daughter complaining of headaches, the two dismissed the headaches to the transition and stress of college life. After Marissa was unable to see out of one eye and bumped into someone on campus, she went to see a doctor. An MRI detected the tumor. Surgery was scheduled and the tumor was removed.

“I was extremely scared and wondered what the long-term effects of the surgery would be,” Norma said. “For Marissa, though, she said it was just something we had to do and we should ‘just get it done with.’”

For a while the family was in the clear, as the tumor was removed and doctors said it was not cancerous. But by March the headaches were back, and so was the tumor. This time doctors said it was cancer and had spread into other smaller tumors throughout her brain. Marissa had to leave school and moved back home so her parents could take care of her.

 According to Norma’s posts on Marissa’s CaringBridge Web Site, (http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/marissaangell) Marissa had ups and downs throughout her fight.

There were days where her bubbly, infectious personality shone through in spite of all the chemotherapy and other medicines.

Throughout it all, her friends, family and even strangers, left happy notes encouraging the young lady to keep fighting.

“I guess I knew Marissa was special and so full of life, but I really had no idea how she touched others. I, we, are so proud of who she was and how she touched all these people,” Norma said of the messages left both while Marissa was fighting and since she’s died.

Other days, though, were not so good.

“The last few days have been horrible for Marissa. She is struggling to find the strength to even get out of bed. Not much sleep here so that makes for some frustrating times. As her mother, I can tell you it is heart breaking,”

Norma wrote on Oct. 6. Many of the days after that were bad ones, too. On Dec. 8, Norma said, things really started to turn for the worse when Marissa was admitted into the hospital.

“As she was being put in her bed, she said ‘I see grandpa.’ I knew she was talking about my dad, who passed about from colon cancer in November of 1998,” she said.

While at the hospital, doctors removed fluid building in ventricles in her brain and spine and she was also diagnosed with shingles.

“It was then we learned that no matter what they did, Marissa could not be saved. They could make her comfortable but any major treatments were all too risky,” Norma said. “It was at that time we decided she needed to come home.”

On Dec. 12 Norma wrote on CaringBridge: “Marissa is really bad and not getting any better. We have decided to stop extreme measures. It was a really hard decision but we owe it to Marissa. It is not fair for her to continue with all these medications, tubes and pain and for her to continue to get worse. We are extremely sad and cannot imagine our life without her. However, watching her like this is no life for her.”

She came home Dec. 14. With nurses, therapists and other medical professionals, Norma and Charlie watched helplessly as Marissa, while still “fighting like a girl,” was losing her fight.

“It was extremely hard to know that this cancer was winning. Having Marissa at home with friends, family and her dog Ginger, her last week was so comforting though,” she said.

Also making the days even a little more manageable since her death, Norma said, were her daughter’s friends.

“Marissa's friends have been extremely helpful. They call, they ask what they can do to help and then, a large group arrived at the house the other night and held a candlelight vigil. A few prayers were said and they went around the circle and said a story/memory of Marissa. It was so touching,” she said.

Norma and Charlie will work as family to adjust to life with just the two of them, Marissa was their only child. 

I am really not sure how we will move on without Marissa. She brightened every room she walked into. We have such great memories of her, fabulous pictures and some great movies she made for us,” she said. “I miss her touch, her kisses and her big blue eyes.” 

Keighla Schmidt can be reached at kschmidt@swpub.com.