Michelle Denise Veronica Garnier-Beckett-Guanipa's Obituary
On February 26th my mother Michelle crossed over into heaven after a 10 month battle of cancer called Acute Myeloid Leukemia at Moffitt Cancer center, she was 52 years old. Her family was with her by her side praying and held her close. She leaves behind her parents Ed and Christine Garnier, her brother and 2 sisters E. Jason Garnier, Catherine Janota, and Rachel Keeser. She has 2 adult children, a daughter Alichia Davis married to Charles Davis with their daughter Anna and her son Michael Beckett.
She was born on January 22nd, 1971, in East Chicago Indiana and her Grandmother Catherine Germek delivered her into this world at St. Catherine’s Hospital. Growing up she and her family lived in Hammond, Indiana and they often visited Florida on many vacations until one day in 1978 they decided to move here. She attended elementary school at St. Patrick’s Catholic school. They lived in Waldorf Maryland near DC for a year and then moved back to Florida in 1985 where she continued high school at Largo High and even did Colorguard. She graduated Largo High School in 1989 with a degree in cosmetology which was her passion. She met Michael Beckett in 1988 on a weekend Christian retreat “C.O.R.E” at Clearwater Central Catholic High school and became close friends and married in 1992.
Michelle and Michael Beckett were married for 14 years. They had Alichia in 1993 and Michael in 1994 both born and raised in Largo Florida. Michelle worked at Home Shopping Network for about 12 years where she met her second husband Will Guanipa and they were married for 10 years. Will has 2 daughters Valeria and Paola. They separated in 2020.
Michelle and her whole family regularly attended St. Jerome Catholic church throughout my childhood. She was an active member at St. Jerome’s and sang at Saturday evening masses. She enjoyed our family dinners that followed mass on Saturdays.
My Aunt Rachel remembers the many summer vacation road trips that they took to visit family back in Indiana. They would stop at fun places like Mammoth Cave along the way. That must be where my mom got the inspiration for our fun family trips that she enjoyed planning. I also remember my mother being there to give a helping hand in any way that she could.
On April 28th 2022, when she was 51 she was diagnosed with AML (acute myeloid leukemia) and was given 2 weeks to live without chemotherapy. She knew that chemo would be a very painful process, but she was not willing to give up the fight. She was always a fighter and knew how to stand her ground. She was willing to go through all of that pain and suffering just to spend more time with her family no matter what it was going to do to her. So she started chemo immediately at Moffitt and for the next 10 months and was able to spend time with all of her family even though it was very challenging. She did everything she could to be a part of every event possible with us all.
She had gone into remission, and they were trying to get her prepared for a bone marrow transplant in February. Our last really big family gathering was Thanksgiving 2022 and she was able to spend Christmas (her all time favorite holiday) with her kids and immediate family before she tested positive for the corona virus the week after Christmas, she tried to stay home to recover but unbeknownst to her the Leukemia was also coming back.
It was around New Years Eve when she went back into Moffitt where she stayed for about 2 months and she received chemo for 3 weeks straight. We celebrated her last Birthday and got her some delicious cake that she got to enjoy around the time they started chemo again. After she was done with the chemo unfortunately she was still struggling with her pneumonia and the chemo started affecting her and went downhill in mid-February.
One Friday when she was stable, we were visiting her and she really wanted a chai tea and when she drank it she was as happy as can be and said with a big happy sigh "ahh, I needed that!".
Saturday we came again to see her and that’s when her doctor came in and told us that her Leukemia came back aggressively and there was nothing else they could do to help her.
We then started making plans for home hospice because she just really wanted to be back home with the family and she even said that she was not ready to give up the fight yet. It came time for us to say our goodbyes so I gave her a big hug and told her that we were planning on coming to see her Tuesday because I had off work and we were going to bring Anna to see her if she was still there and not home yet and I said that I loved her so much and she said what was her final words to me “Ok I love you too sweetie”.
That night when they moved her out of ICU she plummeted and became unresponsive and the next day Will, my stepdad, called and told me to come right away because she was losing the battle and she was not responding. I brought my family and my brother to come and see her Sunday along with my grandparents Chris and Ed. I also called all of her siblings to say their last goodbyes and to send her their love too along with other family calls. Father Tom and Father Rob came to give her last rights and prayed over her and all of us. We stayed with her telling her over and over again how much we loved her, and that she can let go so that she is no longer in any pain and prayed over her the whole time. About 45 minutes after we left we were almost home when I got the phone call that she went into Jesus’ arms. She is no longer in any pain anymore and she will forever be our beautiful angel, she will be greatly missed and we will miss her embrace, her laugh, and her special way of lighting up a room whenever she walked in. We love you so very much Mom. May you rest in peace with the Lord our God, Amen.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Jerome's Raise the Roof fund: https://www.stjeromeonline.org/raise-the-roof.html
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