After raid, cousin `holding up well'

BY MEG LAUGHLIN

 Marisleysis Gonzalez's hair is heavily blond-streaked. She is tan, slimmer than
 ever. She has a full set of braces on her teeth, rather than the retainer she wore
 for many public appearances.

 And despite what she wants, she realizes she has no control over what happens
 to Elian, her friends say.

 ``She has developed a healthier attitude,'' says Roxana Revello, her former
 cosmetology teacher from Miami High School, who has remained close to the
 young woman. ``Before, she thought she had to keep him here. Now, she says
 that whatever happens is up to God and is for the best.''

 About a month ago, Gonzalez quit her job as an assistant loan processor at
 Ocean Bank on Le Jeune Road to rest before pursuing a career as a hair stylist.
 In January, she passed two of the three state tests required to do this. In a few
 months, according to Revello, she should be hard at it.

 The 21-year-old Gonzalez has moved from the much-publicized family home in
 Little Havana (where Elian was forcibly removed by federal agents April 22) to a
 pink deco home in Silver Bluff, between Coral Way and Southwest 12th Avenue.

 ``Just relaxing here with friends,'' she said outside the home on Thursday. ``I am
 holding up well.''

 ``This stress-free time has helped her,'' says her friend, Yassiel Veciana.

 But as recently as two weeks ago, she was still turning up in 911 emergency
 medical calls.

 Records of the calls show that Gonzalez continues to be afflicted by anxiety
 attacks and illness -- the latest incident just two weeks ago.

 On May 4, Gonzalez fainted in a LeJeune Road movie lobby, and a bystander
 called 911.

 ``It is Marisleysis,'' said the anonymous caller on the 911 tape. ``She was
 nervous. Someone made a bad impression on her. She passed out.''

 Veciana was with her for one of three emergency runs to a hospital in April. At the
 time, Gonzalez, ill with problems related to the colitis she has had for several
 years, spent four days in Mercy Hospital. (Colitis, lesions in the colon, is believed
 to be stress-related.)

 ``Marisleysis is such a sensitive person. She has always worn her heart on her
 sleeve,'' Revello said. ``Those of us who know her worry about her because we
 know how fragile she is -- how susceptible to sudden heartache.''

 The medical emergency two weeks ago was her ninth since Elian's arrival last
 November.

 Fire-rescue billing records over several years show that Gonzalez suffers from
 ``acute emotional anxiety'' and ``panic attacks.'' In the 12 times she has been
 treated by fire rescue since 1996, she has exhibited a variety of stress-related
 symptoms: severe intestinal pain, repeated vomiting, fainting,
 semi-consciousness and shallow breathing.

 Before Gonzalez graduated from Miami High in 1997, she repeatedly applied to be
 a teacher's aide in a Miami elementary school when she graduated. But despite
 glowing recommendations from several teachers, she was not hired by the public
 school system because her grades were below average and she had been forced
 out of the local community college for repeatedly dropping classes.

 ``Academics are not her thing, but she is wonderful with small children,'' says a
 former teacher who asked not to be named.

 After high school, Gonzalez left a part-time job as a receptionist at Pep Boys in
 Little Havana and became a shampoo girl at a Coral Way hair salon. Then in
 1999, she joined Ocean Bank, and now plans to begin a new career.

 ``You have to wish her success,'' Revello said. ``Whether you agree with what she
 wants for Elian or not, you should know that she always has good intentions.''