Finding Home: A Memoir of a Mother’s Undying Love and an Untold Secret
Released September, 2012
"Finding Home” is a mother's letter to a most remarkable son, her golden child, who left her too soon. It is the true story of Ramiro "Toti" Mendez, an All-American College Baseball player who starred at Miami's Westminster Christian School.
The coaches predicted a bright future for Toti, perhaps as bright as fellow Westminster alum Alex Rodriguez. But there was something they didn't know about the acclaimed young athlete, an undetected heart defect that threatened more than his career.
On April 2, 2000, just months after his condition was diagnosed, he suffered cardiac sudden death. He collapsed in the back yard of his Miami home as his mother watched from the kitchen window. He was just 20 years old. He had yet to fulfill one of his great dreams to see Yankee Stadium.
His athletic endeavors graced local headlines and stats filled the sports page agate. But he died without knowing that he was born in Asturias, Spain, and illegally adopted by a Miami couple who brought him in to the United States.
After her “Prince's” death Mendez returns to his birthplace in Spain and sets out to find the boy's birth mother. She returns to the clinic where he was born, only to be turned away by the physician who brought him into the world.
This is the story of a boy's interrupted dreams and his mother's desperate mission to raise awareness about the need for expanded testing of young athletes at risk.
“How much is the life of a young college athlete worth?” she asks. “Who is watching out for them?”
Every year, the college scouting system monitors performance, speed, and GPAs, but it fails to do the same when it comes to their health. Meanwhile, athletes continue to drop dead in tracks and fields across the country.
The strides Mendez has achieved in Toti's name are marked by memories and tears. But she is resolved to tell his story to the world.
Buscando Mi Estrella: Una Memoria del Amor Perpetuo de Una Madre y un Secreto Sin Contar
Released May, 2013
¿Cuánto vale la vida de un joven atleta?
¿Quién los cuida?
Cada año, el sistema de buscatalentos universitario monitorea el desempeño, la velocidad y el promedio de notas de los atletas, pero no logra hacer lo mismo cuando se trata de su salud. Mientras tanto, cientos de atletas siguen muriendo repentinamente en pistas y campos de juego en todo el país.
"Buscando Mi Estrella" es la carta de una madre a un hijo extraordinario, su hijo dorado, el que se fue antes de tiempo. Es la historia real de Ramiro “Toti” Méndez, un jugador de béisbol universitario, estrella en la Florida International University y la Christian High School de Miami. Toti, cuyos empeños atléticos adornaron los titulares locales, murió de una enfermedad cardíaca no detectada, sin saber la historia más importante de su vida: su mamá nunca tuvo la oportunidad de explicarle a Toti sobre su nacimiento.
El progreso que ha alcanzado Maruchi Mendez en nombre de su hijo está marcado por memorias y lágrimas. Pero, día a día, reafirman el amor de una madre y su determinación para contarle al mundo la historia de su hijo.
100 Things to Do in Miami
Before You Die
2nd Edition, October 2018
1st Edition, May, 2014
Get ready to take in the rich flavor and diversity of Miami, one of the most vibrant cities in the country and a place with something for everyone! Whether you’re planning to explore our shores, indulge in our international cuisine, or check out the swampy river that is the Everglades, 100 Things to Do in Miami Before You Die (Reedy Press) gives you the inside track to the best spots, from popular to obscure, in the metro area. Discover festivals that garner international attention, ideal places to sip and socialize, historic sites, and international shopping destinations—not to mention places where you can throw down a game of dominos while sipping a café. Written by two Miamians for locals and visitors alike, this guide will help you make the most of a family vacation, romantic getaway, or escapade with friends. So strap on your salsa shoes and experience the magic that Miami has to offer!
Roxanne Vargas is the host of NBC 6’s lifestyle and entertainment show “6 in the Mix” and reports local and entertainment stories daily on the NBC 6 news. Among various distinctions, Vargas has received five Emmy nominations for her reporting and hosting of several features and was voted “Best TV Host” by the Miami New Times in 2012. A wife and mommy, the South Florida native graduated from Florida International University and still calls Miami home.
Maruchi Mendez is a freelance writer and the author of Finding Home: A Memoir of a Mother’s Undying Love and an Untold Secret along with the Spanish translation, Buscando Mi Estrella. She is the co-founder of JunTos Foundation, which helps prevent the unnecessary loss of young people to heart disease and cancer, and an advocate for student-athletes’ health. She lives in Miami where she has raised her four children, and is now a proud grandmother.
Song for Olivia
Release Date, April 15, 2023
Gusana, Esbirra, Latifundista. Mari is only 12 when she is called these words for the first time. She knows what they mean: worm, henchman, filthy land owner. What she doesn’t yet know is that they mark the beginning of her exile from her native Cuba. Mari’s childhood has been filled with the opulence enjoyed by Cuba’s wealthy elites, but as Fidel Castro seizes power, her father’s money and former government position place a target on their family. The country she has always called home is now violently rejecting her.
As Mari and her sisters escape in terror from Cuba’s chants of Paredon, demands for death by firing squad, they arrive to Miami in 1959. With only the clothes on their backs, they encounter hardships they could never have imagined. They feel torn between their new country and the home they left behind, a sentiment shared with the young men of their generation who join the CIA in preparation for the Bay of Pigs invasion. They do not know it yet, but many will die or be imprisoned and suffer the horrors of the Castro jails, while tensions build up to the infamous Cuban missile crisis and blockade.