Enriquez Family Support

Hi, my name is Melanie Vasquez and I am asking for your support in helping out an amazing person that I am lucky to call my friend, Elizabeth "Liz" Enriquez.

In January '22, Liz began experiencing back pain. Thinking she only needed a back adjustment she went to the chiropractor. After routine x-rays, the chiropractor noticed something abnormal, so he referred her to a medical doctor for further testing. Liz was then diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer, Multiple Myeloma. The Enriquez family's life was turned upside down and hasn't been the same since receiving that diagnosis.

Liz and Joaquin's twin daughters, Alyssa and Bella, were just about to enter their Freshman year. But in typical Liz fashion, she silently and stoically battled to make their Freshman year as normal as possible. Freshman year has now passed and the girls are now in their Sophomore year. When I first met Liz, she said one of her favorite things was to make breakfast for her daughters every morning before seeing them off to school. A seemingly small daily ritual has now been seized from Liz.

Despite multiple hospitalizations in Austin (weeks at a time), a 3 week stay at MD Anderson in Houston, and countless chemotherapy treatments, these past two years, Liz has bravely taken cancer head on. Liz and Joaquin have bravely tried to maintain a sense of normalcy as much as possible. Each hospital stay, Liz's mom, Aida, stays with Liz in the hospital. No matter how long, Aida is by her daughter's side, weeks at a time. With each hospital stay, Joaquin is thrusted into the role of caretaking for the girls and the household by himself.

If you've ever seen Liz at a school event, high school football game or supporting her daughters in one of their extra-curricular activities, you would never know that she's been battling cancer this entire time. Liz is always the first person to ask how you're doing or if you need anything and she is the last person to complain about what she is battling.

As I write this, Liz is currently in the hospital and has been for the past 12 days. During this past hospital stay Liz has undergone a series of 14 chemotherapy treatments in hopes of getting her blood levels stabilized so they can begin Car T-cell therapy. The plan is to take Liz's white blood cells, isolate the T-cells and send them to a specialized lab in Pennsylvania. There, the T-cells will be re-purposed to fight the Multiple Myeloma and then sent back to Texas where they will be re-injected. Car T-cell therapy is a process and it is time consuming and given all that Liz and the Enriquez family has been through these past two years, it is easy to see why the Enriquez family needs our support.

Liz has been unable to work for the past year. The financial toll and stress has been tremendous on the Enriquez family during this whole ordeal. Any money donated will go directly to medical costs and expenses incurred because of this debilitating disease.

On behalf of the Enriquez family and myself, thank you any support you can offer, any prayers you can give and any well wishes you send.