Seventeen-year-old Noelani Martinez, recently named the 2024 Military Child of the Year, has turned the heartbreak of losing her mother in the 2016 Brussels terror attack into a force for positivity, channeling her grief into music and advocacy for teenage mental health.
At nine years old when the tragedy struck, Martinez found solace in her mother's favorite '80s rock tunes and now as a teenager, she pounds the drums to navigate a world punctuated by loss, music now separates school from home, and it's also a preparation method before she faces the stress of exam season as a high school junior, dutifully working her way toward college applications with dreams of studying music production at places like Berklee College of Music or abroad in South Korea, her father Melchizedek "Kato" Martinez, a retired Air Force Colonel and Purple Heart recipient, has been a pillar despite dealing with his own trauma from the attack, which inflicted upon him and his children third-degree burns and various other severe injuries.
While the family was left reeling from wounds, both physical and emotional, Martinez stepped into the role of caretaker, ensuring her siblings and father that 'everything would be OK' as they recovered in the hospital—a resilience that echoed the strength of their lost matriarch, Gail Martinez, "Her mom chose her because she was the strongest one out of all of us to make sure her siblings and I were going to be OK," Kato Martinez told San Antonio Report.
Martinez, grappling with depression and anxiety since the ordeal, is vocal about her struggles and the broader issue of mental health among her peers and military families, her father acknowledges his own battles with 'darkness' and together they share their experiences in hopes of reducing the stigma and addressing the concerning suicide rates within their community, Kato Martinez has turned his grief into outreach, his talks at military engagements such as Fort Sam Houston, have helped to pull others back from the edge, "If I can just save one person, I just keep telling myself that, … There's got to be a reason for me," he recounted his sense of purpose born from despair, his words providing a lifeline to those in similar straits, the San Antonio family keeps Gail's memory alive—her favorite colors still drape the living space; her presence felt in the very essence of their daily struggle and triumph, a red cardinal, a harbinger of her spirit, a reminder that she never truly left the fortress of love and strength she built.
In a testament to the enduring power of music and the human spirit, Martinez finds joy behind the drum set, asserting that negative emotions are "battled with my music and I can just log out and jam," as she recently demonstrated during a School of Rock concert—an affirmation of life and its melodies that resonate beyond words, for her, music isn't merely a hobby but a lifeline, a dream she ardently pursues, grounded in the vibrant legacy of her mother and the unyielding courage of her family.
