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This is a brief life history of Robert "BOB" Lozano

To those who were there for me... this was my life.

This is the life history of Bob Lozano. I was born May 1, 1963 in State of California, the City of Ventura, at Ventura County Hospital located at 3291 Loma Vista Road. My mother’s name was Maria Ester Martinez. Her birth place was Mexico. Her birth date was March 24, 1939 and passed away at the age of 63 on January 22, 2003 in Oxnard California. My Father’s name was Daniel Lozano. My father was born in Mexico. I know nothing more about him.

My biological family

My first home was with my family located 617 First Street, in Oxnard California, County of Ventura. I came home to a mother, two sisters and a brother.

My mother would eventually bare 10 children with six different men. She never married. Eventually all the children ended up taking on the last name of my mother “Martinez”. I was the 4th child born. There were 6 children born after me.

I have 3 brothers and 6 sisters. They are:

1. Martha Garibay (1959)
2. Jose Luis Garibay (1960)
3. Alma Rosa Garibay (1961)
4. Robert Lozano (1963)
5. Elsa Cardenas (1964)
6. Estela Antillon (1965)
7. Anna Hilda Crespo (passed away)
8. Ester Cespo (1967)
9. Froilan Alfredo Crespo (1969)
10.Martin Martinez Chavez (1972)

Starting a life in foster care

When I was about 3 or 4 years old (I don’t remember exactly), my earliest memory was my mother telling me (in Spanish, which I have since forgotten) she would always love me as she handed me over to the foster care system. Years later, my grandmother told me that my mother loved me but didn’t know how to take care of me or provide for my medical expenses. I then became a ward of the court. When I arrived in my first foster care home, I remember just crying “Where is my Mom.” I was young and didn’t know what was happening. My new foster mother tried to reassure me all was going to be ok. I stayed with various foster families from then on. There is no way to even keep track there were so many.

Jeanne, a very important person in my life!

Jeanne was a nurse at Loma Vista Hospital. We kept in touch and stayed friends over the years until she died in 2003. She told me that when I was born, I had a tracheotomy to help me breath. I was the first baby at Loma Vista to have this done. Jeanne sometimes would take me home with her. When Jeanne would take me home she would have to clean the fluid out of the tube. After several surgeries, they decided to remove it to see if I could breath on my own. I could, but because of the tracheotomy it changed my voice. Sometimes people ask me why I talk so deep. Instead of going into detail, I just say it was the way I was born.

I was born with a congenital diseases of the nervous system called Neurofibromatosa.

When I was still a baby, Jeanne would take me home for the holidays so I wouldn’t have to be alone in the hospital. I would stay with her and her family. She told me a story years later that when we went to the mall, I would always go up to the manikins and talk to them. I would ask Jeanne why they wouldn’t answer. She always got a kick out of that.

Living in Loma Vista Hospital for a while

When I was about 3 or 4, I went into the hospital for a series of many surgeries and lived there for a period of time. Jeanne, my nurse, took the place of mother for me while I was there. Jeanne worked at Loma Vista Hospital from 1964 and retired in 1979. We remained friends over the years until she died in 2003. Jeanne told me after a surgery, I was confined to a wheelchair but within no time mastered it. There was another boy in the hospital named Stephen who was also in a wheelchair. We became good friends. We would have races up and down the hallways of the hospital and have pop-a-wheelie contests. The nurses there were all very nice and tried to let me be a kid as much as you could be in a hospital. I remember being able to go downstairs and ride the green hallways to the gift shop.

I had multiple surgeries. I basically just lived in the hospital for a little while. I hadn’t seen Stephen in while and kept asking “Where is Stephen”. No one had the heart to tell me that Stephen had passed away. I never knew he died until years later.

There was one time that I had to have surgery and my Mom came to the hospital to see me. She gave me a hug and a kiss and I hugged her back. Then she turned and walked away. I kept yelling for her. The nurses would pick me up to try and comfort me.