My name is Alex. Lilian and Antonio De La Torre are my grandparents. For those of you who do not know, my grandmother, who I called my nana, had an amazing warm heart and was always positive about everything. She kept a smile even though she struggled through so much pain in her life. I won't go too much into detail but I will tell my nana's story and struggle for the past 11 years.

My nana has been on dialysis for over 10 years after her kidneys failed. Her goal was to get a kidney transplant. She was on the waiting list for about 8 long hard years. In those 8 years, her body began to fail her due to the dialysis. When she was finally off the waiting list, they denied her because of the condition of her body, which broke her heart.

Within that year, she was sent to the hospital due to complications from the dialysis, a few times. One of the times, the ER prematurely released her and once she was home, we met her there. Within 20 minutes of talking with my Mom and her grandkids on the front porch, her heart stopped and she collapsed in my mom's arms. We called 911, and the paramedics came and they shocked her chest and brought her back. Meanwhile, the grandchildren huddled around our crying grandpa, praying for God to give us more time…Our prayer was answered, but she had formed a new baseline leading her through new struggles and a more trying time.

Months after this, she was leaving dialysis and fell and broke her right femur. For over a year she was in and out of various rehab centers and doing physical therapy. But with dialysis her bones were growing weaker and weaker making the healing process very slow. When she finally got back home we struggled to find her wheelchair (and soon stretcher) transportation for her dialysis three times a week, plus any doctor visits she may have had in addition too, often spending hours each day fighting with insurance and/or transportation services as they continuously dropped the ball putting her life in jeopardy.. Some time later, her heart had stopped again but this time she was already in the hospital. Luckily they were able to bring her back… again, but every time she was brought back I could tell her body had become weaker. After this, she was put into a nursing facility and was dropped while being moved, which completely messed up her back. Following this, she was in constant back and leg pain, and ended up going to the ER to get checked only to be given pain medicine and she was sent home in a wheelchair. However, by this time she was not able to put pressure on her legs and could only be transported via stretcher (which we specifically told them) and upon arriving at home she fell out of her wheelchair breaking her tibias placing her back in the hospital on a spiral of no return. The hospital knew she didn’t have enough strength to hold herself up but chose not to listen to us. After spending another couple months in the hospital with some of the worst care she has ever received by any hospital, doctor, and nurse for that matter, she was released home with a smile on her face but she was now bed bound and required 24-7 care. Which now brings me to January…she started to feel ill and ended up back in the hospital. While in the hospital her breathing slowed and lungs started to fill up with fluid. The doctors had to do a few emergency surgeries to keep her alive, one of which was to fix her fistula, which is what she uses to perform dialysis. They attempted the surgeries but they had to end them early due to her shallow breathing and the risk of placing her on a ventilator. During this time, she ended up testing positive for covid, was placed into isolation (with no visitors being allowed) and ended up getting pneumonia. After beating both of those she got the surgery which was successful, but at this point, her body was no longer able to handle dialysis. She also found out she had a new infection in her body. At this point, my nana began losing her conscious state of mind, and mobility and the pain was becoming too much to bear, so she decided to end all treatments and just wanted to go home to be with family.

This leads us to yesterday when she spent her last few moments with her family and husband by her side before God called her home to her eternal resting place. Rest In Peace Nana, I Love You!

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 2 Timothy 4:7

It has been about 11 years since she has been on dialysis and it seems like it has just been one thing after another. I thank God for every moment I was able to spend with her. Any money we can raise will go towards my Grandpa keeping his home, bills and my nana’s celebration of life service. Anything is appreciated. God bless you and thank you.