We are the Baquiran family, and we are supporting one of our own, Darlene B. Dipasupil as she currently navigates life after brain surgery.

Help Her Recover & Rebuild After Brain Surgery

Darlene's dream has been to be a nurse and in May 2023, she started the BSN program at UNLV.

Unfortunately her journey to become a nurse would come to a pause.

Right before Christmas 2024, Darlene was diagnosed with Chiari 1 Malformation, a condition where brain tissue extends into the spinal canal, causing severe pain, dizziness, balance issues, and other debilitating symptoms.

Throughout her life, she experienced these symptoms sporadically and minimally. As she got older, the symptoms began to worsen. She would have back pain and leg pain to the point she would use a cane at the age of 22 and even become immobilized.

After countless doctor visits and tests, eventually, a podiatrist referred her to a neurosurgeon who recommended immediate brain surgery.

Knowing there is a risk of death from brain surgery, Darlene chose to spend time with family for Christmas in case it was to be her last.

Soon she would undergo brain surgery, which went smoothly.

Unfortunately, the recovery did not.

Recovery has been a long, emotional, and physically exhausting journey. During recovery, Darlene's body rejected several medications and experienced side effects that essentially led to her needing to be sedated with a feeding tube. She had 2 strokes and laceration in the liver. The two strokes happened in her cerebellum and brain stem. These affected her balance, vision, speech, nasal palate, and her swallow. The laceration was level 3 of 5. Eventually, she had 2 cardiac arrests & code blued (her heart stopped beating). They were able to bring her back to us, and from there, she began to recover from all the obstacles that were thrown at her.

We are happy to say that she returned home after a few days of rehab the day before her birthday. On 3/14, she was able to celebrate her 24th birthday.

Though she has gone through the worst of her recovery, she is still learning to walk, has a feeding tube, will need to attend follow up treatments, will continue to experience the financial strain of not being able to work like she used to, and will have to push out her goals.

Why We Are Fundraising

With the need to support herself both financially, psychologically and physically, she has turned to something that has always brought her joy—baking cake pops! This has become her way to heal, cope, and rebuild her life.

This GoFundMe is to help her:

Support her daily needs as she recovers & support our family members that are taking time off to care for her.

Grow her small cake pop business to become financially independent for the time being.

How You Can Help

Any donation, no matter how small, makes a difference in her journey. Even if you can’t donate, please share her story. If you’d like to support in another way, you can also order her homemade cake pops, and every purchase will help her move forward. Please message me directly for cake pop orders until I put her information in this section.

From Darlene to you, "I am incredibly grateful for your kindness, prayers, and support. Thank you for helping me heal and rebuild, after this life-changing experience."