Ramondo Daniel Pizana

From the very first moment we held Ramondo we both knew that our love for him would be eternal. He was perfect and precious to us in every way. His smile was always so bright, so beautiful and we will forever treasure it. At the young age of 6 he was diagnosed with Autism and a little later with Tourette's Syndrome and OCD but he was still our perfect and precious little boy. Things were VERY hard for him… even so, he persevered and learned to succeed with the hand he was dealt and we learned with him. His hard work continued to pay off and he graduated from elementary, middle, and finally high school with good grades across the board. He was making so much more progress than some people thought he would…but we knew, we knew how hard he tried every day, every night… to earn those grades in school…to accomplish the things he did. Ramondo always liked to prove people wrong when they doubted him, it gave him the will to push harder even though it was extremely difficult.

In September of last year he finally reached the point where he felt he would like to try to move out and be on his own. So with the help of a lot of people combined with his own bravery, he moved to Oregon City to spread his wings. There he lived with 2 wonderful people who came to treat him like family. There he continued to make progress despite the difficulties he faced every day. On September 28th he accomplished one of his main goals and started his first college classes. He told us he really loved it, he was so happy to finally be treated as an equal. He always said he wanted to be around regular students and to be accepted for who he is and not judged…he finally achieved it.

Ramondo always had a big heart and though it was hard for him to express himself at times, he cared about everyone, even those he didn’t know. His heart was so big he once gave the only dollar he had to a homeless man and told us; “I gave it to him because I thought he might be thirsty”. When most people would walk on by, Ramondo would follow his heart and always stayed true to it. Ramondo was a strong and courageous young man, he fought long and he tried so very hard to carve his own path in life. He was an excellent judge of character and he let only a few people into his world. Once you were in his world though, you were changed forever and for the better. We’ve learned so much more from Ramondo in his short 21 years on this Earth than we’ve learned in all of ours.

There are times in our lives when something happens that will forever change you and the way you look at the world. Though Ramondo's passing is more painful than words can ever describe, it does not outshine the joy we felt when he was born. Both times have changed us but, the day he was born changed us the most and we've learned so much from Ramondo since then. Yes, his passing has changed us but, more than anything it has reminded us that the things that are most important in life are not the bad times, but the good times. That the single big things in life are not better than the many little and that a smile is one of the easiest things to do but, impossible to forget.