Marisol Ester Rojas
Premium memorialLovingly known as “Mari”
11 March 1951 — 21 October 2025 · aged 74
Chilean refugee who became a Karolinska children's nurse and hummed through the night
Stockholm, Sweden Born in Valparaíso, Chile Resting at Skogskyrkogården (Woodland Cemetery), StockholmAbout Marisol
When the plane from Santiago landed at Arlanda in January 1974 it was minus twelve degrees, and Marisol Rojas was wearing sandals. A Swedish Red Cross volunteer gave her a coat, a hat and a cinnamon bun, and she cried, not from the cold but because it was the first time in four months that a stranger had been kind to her without wanting anything in return.
Born in 1951 in Valparaíso, the daughter of a docker and a schoolteacher, Marisol was twenty-two and in the final year of nursing at the Universidad de Chile when the coup of September 1973 changed everything. After weeks in hiding, and with help from the Swedish embassy in Santiago, she left the country with one suitcase and her mother's rosary. She never spoke in detail about those weeks; she spoke instead about Sweden's gift, which she called 'a second life with central heating'.
She learned Swedish in six months, requalified as a nurse at Karolinska Institutet and in 1980 joined the Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital at Karolinska University Hospital in Solna. For thirty-six years she worked in paediatric oncology, the ward where the nights are longest. She had a way of making the smallest patients feel safe: she hummed Violeta Parra's 'Gracias a la vida' under her breath on night shifts, and children who could not sleep for anything else slept to it.
In 1977 she married Mats Lindholm, a Swedish teacher she met at a solidarity concert for Chile, and they raised Camila and Daniel in a flat in Hägersten, where Sundays meant empanadas, Fridays meant cinnamon buns, and conversation switched mid-sentence between Spanish and Swedish. She co-founded a Chilean-Swedish friendship association that helped hundreds of refugees from Latin America find work, housing and each other. She never moved back to Chile, but visited every other year to see her sister Gloria and swim in the Pacific, 'to check it was still there'.
Marisol died on 21 October 2025 at home in Stockholm, with Mats and her children beside her and Violeta Parra on the stereo. She leaves Mats, Camila, Daniel, her sister Gloria, three grandchildren and hundreds of former patients and families who remember the nurse who hummed.
“Be kind first. The explanations can wait.”
- Faith
- Catholic
- Place of birth
- Valparaíso, Chile
- Resting place
- Skogskyrkogården (Woodland Cemetery), Stockholm
- Passed away
- 21 October 2025, Stockholm
Memorial Mass
Friday, 31 October 2025 at 10:00 UTC
Add to calendarMemorial fund
Marisol Rojas Nursing Scholarship
A scholarship for refugee students on the nursing programme at Karolinska Institutet, in memory of a nurse who arrived with nothing and gave everything.
$2,042.50 raised of $5,000
41%11 recent contributions
- KB
Karim Benali gave $475 · 9mo ago
- EO
Emeka Obiano gave $95 · 9mo ago
- CM
Callum McKinnon gave $95 · 9mo ago
- CW
Catherine Wangari gave $475 · 9mo ago
- DM
Dr. Esi Mensah gave $71.25 · 9mo ago
Life journey
Arrived in Stockholm as a refugee
1974 · Stockholm
Landed at Arlanda in January in sandals.
Nursing qualification (sjuksköterskeexamen)
Karolinska Institutet1975 – 1979 · Stockholm
Learned Swedish in six months and requalified as a nurse.
Married Mats Lindholm
1977 · Stockholm
A marriage of forty-eight years.
Paediatric oncology nurse
Astrid Lindgren Children's Hospital, Karolinska University Hospital1980 – 2016 · Solna
Thirty-six years on the night shift.
Co-founder and volunteer
Chilean-Swedish Friendship Association1978 – 2024 · Stockholm
Helped hundreds of refugees find work, housing and community.
Tap an organisation to find others who studied or worked there.
Family & connections
Marisol is survived by
- Mats Lindholm· Spouse
- Camila Lindholm Rojas· Daughter
- Daniel Rojas Lindholm· Son
- Gloria Rojas· Sister
- 3 grandchildren· Grandchildren
Tributes & memories
6 people have shared a memory of Marisol.
Knew Marisol? Share a memory with the family and everyone who loved them.
Sign in to write a tribute- ES
Nursing colleague
When I was a newly qualified nurse, Marisol gave me a yellow notebook and said, 'Write down the names of everyone you help, so that on bad days you remember.' I have three notebooks now. The first page of the first one says: Mari.
- LN
Neighbour in Hägersten
She taught me to say 'gracias' with a straight face to the postman and with a wide one to my wife. In forty years she never let a doorbell go unanswered. I suspect half our street is going to start humming at random.
- FH
Mother of a former patient
My son was three and terrified of the machines. Marisol hummed to him, and he called her 'Mari-song'. He is twenty now and studying nursing at Karolinska. He tells people the reason is a woman who hummed in the dark.
- GR
Sister in Valparaíso
Marisol left with one suitcase and our mother's rosary. For fifty years she phoned me on Sundays and talked about snow as though it were a colour she had invented. When she came home we swam at Reñaca and she shrieked at the cold like a girl. That shriek is my favourite sound.
- RF
Friend from the Chilean-Swedish Association
In 1976 I arrived in Stockholm with an address and a fever. Marisol took me to the clinic, translated everything and found me a room. Fifty years on we still ate empanadas together every September. Last year she sat at the head of the table and said, 'Eat. It's all right.'
- DS
Paediatric oncologist, Karolinska
On the worst nights, when I had to deliver news no parent should hear, Marisol would already be in the corridor with a tray of tea and two clean tissues. She never said a word. She did not need to. The families remembered her long after they had forgotten my name.
