My mother is a senior who should be retired and not working, but her life has never been easy, and she was forced to start working from an early age.

Panchita, as we call her, comes from a family of 10 brothers and sisters who experienced extreme poverty, but as she shares with me, family values were always present. Until this date, when she tells me about her life in Mexico, she does not complain about having to work as a child to help bring bread to their table. Instead, she knew from an early age that she would commit to work and support her family in any way possible, and so she did.

She left her hometown at 16 to a border city in Mexico. Putting aside her life, she worked tirelessly, but I came into her life. My mother tells me how happy she was to know I was coming into her life without knowing the challenges she had yet to face. Before one of her most painful experiences after the passing of her mother, she underwent domestic violence with my father for many years, but like every woman with dreams, she wanted to make a family and trusted my father would be there for me.

Unfortunately, one month before I turned four, I had an accident playing with a little girl and became paralyzed. This life-changing accident changed my mother's life in many ways she never expected. Barely in her 30s, she couldn't comprehend why her daughter went from running around to being entirely dependent on her; all changed in the blink of an eye. That accident is something that still brings her to tears today, and knowing I'm wheelchair-bound is something that worries her when she thinks of herself as unable to be there for me.

With her hopes high in finding a cure or the doctor who would tell her that I was going to walk again, she faced terrible physical abuse by my father. Until the day he threw me to the floor and beat me badly. I recall my mother running with me in her arms, trying to get away from my father. When we arrived at my aunt's house, all bruised and with teary eyes, she told me, "I cannot stay with your father anymore. He will always be your father, and you must respect him as such, but I cannot be with him anymore."

That decision changed both of our lives even more than by accident. This meant that she had to work and be absent from my care. But just as hard as our lives have been, we have also been blessed with my aunt (her cousin), who is like a second mother. I always missed my mother, who began working two jobs in Tijuana and later emigrated to the States to work in the fields seasonally.

Though she was gone for long periods of time, she always looked for medical support for me and made sure she was around to take me to critical medical evaluations. My aunt would support both of us when my mother stayed with me for surgery procedures.

My mother's resilience, sacrifice, and my aunt's unconditional support are the strengths and examples that have made me the woman I am now. Knowing what she has been through in life, what I witnessed and experienced with my father, constantly reminded me that I needed to be someone and have a good job to give my mother something of all she has given me.

Life has not made it easy for us. After a lifetime of work, her daughter (me) has faced many health declines, even death diagnoses. My aunt tells me that the many times I have been in the hospital, my mother would cry tirelessly, asking God why he allowed that accident that kept me from walking again and why, after working so much, she had never been able to give me a better life, free from suffering.

I cannot even imagine what her fears and pains have been throughout the time I have been in her life. What I do know is that thanks to my mother, I always had food, shelter, clothing, and more than I probably deserved. Yes, we have always lived in one-bedroom apartments; when she decided to bring me to this country, we slept in a car in the fields where she and my aunt worked near Fresno, but I was happy to be with them, and that is all it mattered to me then and now.

My mother and my aunt are all I have as a family, and it hurts me to know that my dreams to help them the way they have helped me have been almost impossible.

My 78-year-old aunt was forced to stop working during COVID-19, and my mother, who is 74-years-old was also forced to stop working in September of last year. Both of them express and show a strong desire to continue to be there for me, and they worry about what might happen should they not be around. But I am also worried about them and wish life would be less complicated for all of us.

None of them know I am reaching out to you, and it took me a lot to share all of these, but I want to be there for them as they have been there for me.

Unlike my aunt, my mother never visited a doctor, except when I came here. She set herself aside first for her family and later for her daughter. Last year, she risked herself to work under severe pain until she couldn't stand. It took her another month to visit a doctor, and it has taken her a couple of months to say yes to a surgical procedure.

She expresses concern for complications, inability to cover the increasing medical bills for many things Medicare isn't covering, and most of all, she is afraid of not being able to work to support me. From my end, despite my health challenges, I am doing my best to find a job, but I have not found one that will allow me to cover my medical care, after which I will lose once I earn a specific income limit set by the insurance.

That has not stopped me, and I have worked on different things, but recently, more is needed to cover transportation for medical bills, transportation, gas, and, at times, other basic living things. My concern now is the bills coming in for my mother's care, for which we have been told need to be paid so that nothing gets interrupted. If this happens, her scheduled surgery for April 8th will be postponed until 70% of the medical bills are covered. She cannot have more than 30% as a pending balance.

Asking for help has come hard for my family and is no different to me. Growing up with two hard-working women has taught me that everything in life is earned through hard work, but my mother needs this surgery, and I need your help to help her.

My mother knows no other way of life than working to make a living. She worked under the sun in the fields for many years, then caring for older adults, and in fast food restaurants, always under minimum wage and doubling shifts; her idea for retirement is a dream in which her daughter will have all her needs covered, and she is present to help me in any way possible.

My idea of a better life is one where I can give her back something of all she has given me, and she never again faces health challenges. I wouldn't mind sleeping in a car again as long as she and my aunt remain healthy and know in their hearts I am fine for as long as we are together.

If you can help with funds for my mother's medical bills, please, before you do, contact me to share my resume for potential job opportunities. I truly appreciate your time and consideration.