By Hector Flores
But most of all, he will say that she fought cancer fiercely.
Despite her valiant effort and a remarkable will to live, Miranda-Fritzen died early March 30 at Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola from complications arising from her leukemia treatments.
³We were with her 24/7,² Richard said. ³We did not want her to be alone.² He added that as she died, K.J. was being comforted by her husband, Scott, and other family members.
Justine DiMiceli, K.J.¹s older sister, said, ³She was loved by so many. She was the strength and the light for everyone.²
The Rev. Joe Esposito of the New Covenant Church in East Meadow said that he often visited K.J. to console her, but found that she usually ended up consoling him. ³K.J. went through quite a battle, and I would visit her to encourage her, but yet she encouraged me,² Esposito said. ³She was a fighter. She never let her faith be torn down. She was sick for three years and went through a lot, and she fought a good battle.²
Miranda-Fritzen was born in Mary Immaculate Hospital in Queens on Dec. 5, 1966. Three years later, her family moved from Franklin Square to Island Park, where she was raised, though she graduated from West Hempstead High School in 1984. She then attended Purdue University, studying electrical engineering.
When she returned home, she began working as an electrician, and eventually became one of the first women accepted into the Electrical Workers Union in New York. Ultimately, her knowledge of construction led to her appointment as a special investigator for the New York State Department of Labor, where she was charged with investigating contract fraud.
It was during her time with the labor department, in 1994, that she met Scott Fritzen. The couple eventually settled in East Meadow, had a son, Benjamin, in 1995, and finally married in 2003.
K.J. was diagnosed with leukemia in June of 2002. She underwent intensive chemotherapy and stem cell treatment, but the disease continued to ravage her body. In February of 2005 she was admitted to New York Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, where a matching bone marrow donor was found and a marrow transplant performed. It was judged a success, but in order to prevent Miranda-Fritzen¹s body from rejecting the new bone marrow, doctors had to suppress her immune system with medicine. It was this treatment that left her susceptible to infection, and several such complications led to her death ‹ though, her father said, ³Not before a fierce and valiant fight.²
Staying alive was not the only battle K.J. fought. The bone marrow transplant left her family in dire financial straits. She was laid off from her state job and left with mounting medical bills. After her plight was featured in the Herald in 2005, she received an outpouring of support from her neighbors and local community groups, among them the East Meadow Chamber of Commerce and Kiwanis Club, which organized a garage sale fund-raiser at the East Meadow Firehouse and built a wheelchair-accessible ramp to her house last July.
Dr. Allen Alterman, immediate past president of the Kiwanis Club, called K.J.¹s death a tragedy. ³It¹s a sad loss to the community,² he said. ³She was sick for a long time, but despite it all she maintained a positive outlook and was giving to our community.²
As recently as last October, a second Kiwanis group, affiliated with Town of Hempstead employees, sponsored a fund-raiser at the Bellmore Firehouse. According to Richard Miranda, the event was well attended, and participants included members of the New York Jets, the New York Islanders and other organizations.
Miranda-Fritzen was waked last the weekend at the Barnes-Sorrentino Funeral Home in West Hempstead. She was interred on Monday at the Greenfield Cemetery in Uniondale.
In addition to her husband, son and father, she is survived by her mother, Rosalia Miranda, of Island Park; two sisters, Justine DiMiceli, of Lynbrook, and Elizabeth Boyle, of Middleboro, Mass.; three brothers, Adam Miranda, of Seaford, Richard Miranda Jr., of Island Park, and Eric Miranda, of Manhattan; and a grandmother, Georgiana Miranda, of Montpelier, Vt.
Comments about this story? HFlores@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 283.
