Sabrina Mihailescu, of Glen Cove, surgical technologist, dies at 27
Sabrina Mihailescu appeared on "Sesame Street" as a child, and later became a surgical technologist. Credit: Christine Mihailescu
As a youngster, Sabrina Mihailescu appeared in several "Sesame Street" segments, and by age 23, she was earning six figures as a surgical technologist, her family said.
Her mix of vulnerability, caring and strong will led to her accomplishments. But she also experienced many battles, said her mother, Christine Mihailescu. She overcame anorexia that started at age 9, dealt with mental health disorders and struggled with drug addiction. At the same time, she was able to buy a co-op apartment, doted on her dog, Riot, and a pet albino ball python, and ate a croissant under the Eiffel Tower, her favorite travel memory.
“Sabrina was a blazing ball of fire that rip-roared through the Earth, leaving traces of glitter in every place,” said Christine Mihailescu, of Glen Cove. “She found the greatest in some of the people that the world would shun . . . a way to make them feel so great about themselves.”
Shortly after taking drugs again, Sabrina Mihailescu suffered seizures, which had afflicted her all her life, and died Jan. 9. The Glen Cove resident was 27.
She had many dreams since childhood, from being a gold medal gymnast to working at a medical examiner’s office, saying with her snappy humor that she liked not having anyone talk back, her family said.
Sabrina was speaking in complete sentences by the time she was a year old, her mother recalled, and in grade school, visitors from "Sesame Street" were impressed when she started gabbing to them. The show decided to film her at home demonstrating fire safety, with Sabrina narrating the segment. When she was bruised falling off her bike, she explained her doctor’s visit on "Sesame Street."
As an only child for 12 years, she showed her caring side early, her mother said: “She would know when I had a hard day, and she would come and cuddle up right next to me."
When her brothers arrived, the teenager called them her “babies” and embraced whatever they loved.
“She left an imprint on everyone that crossed her path with her loving ways,” said her godmother, Venus Valentin.
In junior high, an overnight pajama party at a friend’s house changed her forever. She returned a sad soul after being the subject of a “slam book,” in which her peers made negative comments about her, according to her mother.
That was around the time the teenager started taking drugs, from Xanax to cocaine, her family said. She had bad experiences with doctors who could not help her, turning her against inpatient drug rehabilitation, her parents said.
“According to her, she was a functional drug addict,” said her father, Anthony Mihailescu, of Glen Cove.
She made it to the dean’s list at the Mandl School: The College of Allied Health, in Manhattan, where she graduated in 2017 with an associate degree and board certification in surgical technology, having learned how to set up a sterile operating room and pass the right instruments to surgeons.
Before she lost her jobs due to her addiction, Mihailescu assisted doctors with eye surgeries at the Garden City Surgicenter and the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital and later worked at NYU Langone Ambulatory Care Center in Manhattan.
“She was smart . . . and loved her job, making sure to tell gross stories at the dinner table about the surgeries she performed and holding eyeballs in her hand,” her mother recalled.
Even in all the harsh phone arguments over drug rehabilitation, which ended with her child hanging up, her daughter’s true nature shone through, Mihailescu said: “She would always call me back instantly and say, ‘I love you, Mother.’ ”
Besides her parents, she is survived by her brothers, Mateo and Luca Mihailescu, both of Glen Cove.
A service with decorations that reflected "Alice in Wonderland," her favorite character, was held Jan. 12 at the Dodge-Thomas Funeral Home in Glen Cove. She was cremated, her ashes kept in an "Alice" urn.
As a youngster, Sabrina Mihailescu appeared in several "Sesame Street" segments, and by age 23, she was earning six figures as a surgical technologist, her family said.
Her mix of vulnerability, caring and strong will led to her accomplishments. But she also experienced many battles, said her mother, Christine Mihailescu. She overcame anorexia that started at age 9, dealt with mental health disorders and struggled with drug addiction. At the same time, she was able to buy a co-op apartment, doted on her dog, Riot, and a pet albino ball python, and ate a croissant under the Eiffel Tower, her favorite travel memory.
“Sabrina was a blazing ball of fire that rip-roared through the Earth, leaving traces of glitter in every place,” said Christine Mihailescu, of Glen Cove. “She found the greatest in some of the people that the world would shun . . . a way to make them feel so great about themselves.”
Shortly after taking drugs again, Sabrina Mihailescu suffered seizures, which had afflicted her all her life, and died Jan. 9. The Glen Cove resident was 27.
She had many dreams since childhood, from being a gold medal gymnast to working at a medical examiner’s office, saying with her snappy humor that she liked not having anyone talk back, her family said.
Sabrina was speaking in complete sentences by the time she was a year old, her mother recalled, and in grade school, visitors from "Sesame Street" were impressed when she started gabbing to them. The show decided to film her at home demonstrating fire safety, with Sabrina narrating the segment. When she was bruised falling off her bike, she explained her doctor’s visit on "Sesame Street."
As an only child for 12 years, she showed her caring side early, her mother said: “She would know when I had a hard day, and she would come and cuddle up right next to me."
When her brothers arrived, the teenager called them her “babies” and embraced whatever they loved.
“She left an imprint on everyone that crossed her path with her loving ways,” said her godmother, Venus Valentin.
In junior high, an overnight pajama party at a friend’s house changed her forever. She returned a sad soul after being the subject of a “slam book,” in which her peers made negative comments about her, according to her mother.
That was around the time the teenager started taking drugs, from Xanax to cocaine, her family said. She had bad experiences with doctors who could not help her, turning her against inpatient drug rehabilitation, her parents said.
“According to her, she was a functional drug addict,” said her father, Anthony Mihailescu, of Glen Cove.
She made it to the dean’s list at the Mandl School: The College of Allied Health, in Manhattan, where she graduated in 2017 with an associate degree and board certification in surgical technology, having learned how to set up a sterile operating room and pass the right instruments to surgeons.
Before she lost her jobs due to her addiction, Mihailescu assisted doctors with eye surgeries at the Garden City Surgicenter and the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital and later worked at NYU Langone Ambulatory Care Center in Manhattan.
“She was smart . . . and loved her job, making sure to tell gross stories at the dinner table about the surgeries she performed and holding eyeballs in her hand,” her mother recalled.
Even in all the harsh phone arguments over drug rehabilitation, which ended with her child hanging up, her daughter’s true nature shone through, Mihailescu said: “She would always call me back instantly and say, ‘I love you, Mother.’ ”
Besides her parents, she is survived by her brothers, Mateo and Luca Mihailescu, both of Glen Cove.
A service with decorations that reflected "Alice in Wonderland," her favorite character, was held Jan. 12 at the Dodge-Thomas Funeral Home in Glen Cove. She was cremated, her ashes kept in an "Alice" urn.
