Donate to Ease Rosario's Journey to Health

Rosario is the kindest person that you will ever be blessed to meet. Her living words of using love, patience, and kindness are demonstrated in all her actions. Whether dealing with her Veteran patients, our beautiful 17-year-old daughter, or a complete stranger, her emphasis on welcoming them, accepting them, and showing them kindness and love can be confirmed by anyone in her circle of friends and family. Fortunately, I have been blessed to have her in my life now for the past 21 years, and there's no doubt that my life is far superior to what I would have ever imagined.

On November 27, 2020, Rosario was diagnosed with Stage IIIc Ovarian Cancer that required immediate surgery. Within 24 hours of her surgery, she was up and about walking the hallways of the hospital, making others smile with her gracious acceptance of what was to be a long battle. And after almost 12 months of fighting and battling with surgery, hysterectomy, chemo, multiple port procedures, injections, infusions, breast mastectomy, and reconstruction - In May of 2021, it seemed she had done it! Cancer was no longer active. By July 2021, she was back servicing our proud US Veterans. We hoped it would be the Final Episode, it wasn't.

In August 2024, elevated markers later revealed that the cancer was back. There was metastasis now in her spleen, liver, and possibly something in her lung. So in late September 2024, she re-initiated and welcomed chemotherapy into the fold again. This 2nd time around, her reactions to the chemo cocktail were far worse and more debilitating. And in early March 2025, as her scans were showing the cancer was no longer visible, confusion set in. Confusion because despite the surgeon validating that there was absolutely no cancer visible in the scans, her tumor markers were slightly elevated. So, as per the advice of medical professionals, we continued with the chemotherapy; but now a new chemo culprit was introduced into her cocktail; cisplatin.

Overnight it seemed that all of her reactions to chemo worsened in both intensity and longevity. No longer was she feeling better on day 4 after the chemo; she was in constant pain and discomfort. Then a new symptom. One that has hit us all in our lifetime; diarrhea. Between late March and well into mid to late May 2025, Rosario couldn't be more than a short walk from a restroom.

On May 26, 2025, with me just having left on a business trip to South Africa, our youngest daughter Lara walked into our room to ask her mom how she was feeling, to which she replied, I think I need to go to the hospital. A day later, on the 27th of May, she was in an operating room having an infectious horseshoe abscess removed. She spent the next 15 days in the hospital as she recovered from surgery and its pains as well as the onset of kidney failure and life-threatening high blood pressure. On more than one occasion during those 15 days, I was selfishly asking God to please let us keep her a little longer. I'm not sure if that was the right thing to ask for, but it's what I did.

Today, June 17th, 2025, I sit here humbled and grateful knowing that God heard my prayers and my beautiful negrita is upstairs recovering and resting.

Both our jobs offer and extend us some incredible benefits that we have leveraged since Rosario stopped working back in April of this year. But just as these financial benefits start to come to a close, we learned today from the follow-up with the surgeon that Rosario has additional procedures that will very likely keep her from returning to work until September/October timeframe.

This is where I bow my head in grace, gratitude, and humility and kindly ask all of you - my family, my friends, and kind-hearted strangers to donate what you can so that Rosario doesn't have to make a pressing decision about returning to work before she is ready.

You have my commitment that all funds collected not needed for this cause and this cause alone; I will donate such funds to St. Paul Catholic Church, where I know hundreds of people have been praying for Rosario and my family.

Graciously,

Felix J Falero