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Her father, Kenneth Rienzo, died of liver disease, around Thanksgiving time in 2006. Fourteen years later, Kendall finds herself back in the same hell. This time, she's mourning the loss of her mother.
Jo-Ann Maletto died earlier this month after a fire broke out in her Upper Gwynedd apartment. Kendall, an only child, had raised more than $760 as of on a GoFundMe as of Saturday afternoon.
"My mom meant the world to me," said Kendall, now 26, of Warrington -- a mom herself to a 7-year-old boy.
"We only had each other... and we didn't go anywhere without each other. She was my best friend.
"She would call me 10 times a day... but now that’s all I want. Those 10 phone calls a day. It’s hard."
Maletto had been battling COPD and congestive heart failure. The week of the fire, she took a fall. Kendall went over to her mom's place every day to check on her.
"That last week, my mom wasn't right," Kendall said. "That Sunday when the fire happened, we were supposed to talk about life insurance, and stuff that she wanted done."
In the days leading up to the fire, Maletto spent much of her time sleeping, her daughter recalled. She couldn't stand for more than a minute.
Maletto even called a funeral home because she "felt like her body was giving up on her," Kendall said.
"It’s kind of crazy, because [first responders] found her on the couch," Kendall said. "Doctors do believe my mom may have passed before the fire. She may have had a tad bit of a pulse, and once the smoke and carbon monoxide came -- that's what took her."
When Maletto died, she had no money left. She had been on disability getting only $700 a month.
Not only is Kendall left grieving the loss of her mom, her best friend, but she must also find a way to cover costs associated with the funeral.
"We never were able to afford a proper viewing/burial for my father – but I’d like to do everything I can at this point in my life to make sure my mother is given the dignity she deserves," she wrote on the GoFundMe. "I think that would be what would make her smile."
Kendall hopes to lay her mom to rest in January 2021.
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