My name is Mariah Alamillo and I live in Fulshear, Texas. My family moved to the state in 2020 due to hardships during the pandemic. My family and I moved to Fulshear 6 months ago when my world was different. Different means I was healthy, strong and committed to growing in my faith, caring for my family and a 15-year career as a Hairstylist. It was my joy to support the lives of others in what ways I could with my services and be able to provide for my family's needs. On August 18th, 2023 the day after my 32nd birthday at 2 am I was rushed to the hospital by my husband with severe abdominal pains and leaving my two children ages 10 and 3 at home with visiting family.

I need to express that my decision to go to the hospital did not come easy when it should have. My pains were excruciating, debilitating, and unquestionable. My family urged me to go to the hospital and I tried to fight the decision. It was then I had to express the reality of my young middle-class family. A reality of hardship that I now know that far too many of us Americans fall into. Our family made too much money to be eligible for State Benefits and not enough money to afford the ever-rising cost of living. This unfortunately left me in a position where I HAD NO INSURANCE. Although this was meant to be a temporary situation, my husband found an employment opportunity that would change our situation after the forced pay cut with our relocation to Texas. Leaving us unable to afford the financial burden of private health care coverage for a family of $500+ per paycheck. All of this to say when it came down to it I felt that my health and life was less important because I could not afford health care. It's a tragedy that so many Americans like myself face.

Being a young black woman who is already looked at by many with having less value knowing I couldn't afford the cost to provide myself the medical protection I needed to afford to save my own life. Every life-threatening medical decision from this point forward was met with the intimidating thought, I can't afford to fight for my life. Through the grace of god, I chose to go to the hospital and fight.

While in the hospital in severe pain I was told that I was too young to be sick by one doctor at the hospital who dismissed my pains as a hernia and began to discharge me. This doctor did not see me because of my color, age and the fact that he verbally said to me “ You seem healthy.” This doctor was not going to take the extra steps needed to figure out why I was feeling the way I was feeling and request the necessary tests for me. Before this process was completed I was blessed to have had a doctor who just happened to be on call from a different hospital who ordered some tests that I needed. He saw value in me and life regardless of what others thought. As I spoke to this doctor he heard my cries and admitted that my pains were not associated with a hernia.

It was truly a blessing to have this new doctor step in because the test he ordered revealed a large mass measuring 9.5 cm. It was too early to determine what it truly was without testing. The fact is whatever it was this mass had been growing inside me for a long time. However, the doctors began to express the concerns that come with the most realistic outcome of the testing CANCER. I was admitted to the hospital that night and did not return home to my husband and children for nearly 3 weeks. Our lives as a whole and individually changed forever in the blink of an eye. The doctors discovered I had an extremely rare internal organ birth defect. That is impossible to discover without specifically searching for it with MRI imaging. I also discovered through An Endoscopy biopsy I had Hepatocellular Carcinoma Cancer (HCC). The birth defect is called Abernethy Malformation. During my time in the hospital, the doctors were puzzled as to how to move forward with my care. but were eager to release me from there because of my lack of insurance coverage.

I was released from the hospital for one week and managed to receive limited insurance coverage. I was Set up with an oncologist who immediately scheduled me for surgery.

I was told by my oncologist that “my cancer was too large and dense to properly respond to chemo and surgery was the only way to move forward. When I was young and otherwise healthy I should be able to handle it.” I was told by surgeons that I was” young and healthy and this was routine and easy. I should have surgery and recover from it fine “ Which was far from the truth. As I took in every bit of what was said I continued to be intimidated by others to fight for my life because I could not afford anything being done.

With my husband left to work and care for the kids and me I was admitted back to the hospital for surgery to remove the tumor. The surgery was unsuccessful and I was placed in the ICU because of Life-Threatening complications. The surgeons were able to gather samples for a second biopsy which showed additional cancers in my body. This only further complicated my healthcare. I was finally sent home after an additional 2 weeks in the hospital with an incomplete diagnosis. Post-surgery and with two blood transfusions and heavily medicated. I suffered in pain at home from My growing tumor and post-surgery. I again was rushed back to the hospital due to an abscess that developed from the surgery complications. I was admitted to the hospital again for another 6 days. Meanwhile, I had been waiting 30-plus days for biopsy results that never came because the hospital refused to accept my limited insurance coverage and was never notified by the hospital that my insurance was not covering this cost.

Four months passed and I was diagnosed with HCC cancer and it had been untreated. I have racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills from the hospital visits and Testing because of the uniqueness of my cancer which had the doctors puzzled. At this point, it was clear that money mattered more than saving my life. My mother and father rallied together to gather funds of $50,000.00 from the family home, the business, family and friends to pay for one hospital visit to MD Anderson Cancer Center. They believed that my life was worth the cost of fighting for. Those funds went towards getting a proper biopsy and pathology report for me so that we could name and stage and also begin my unique cancer diagnosis.

The Victory in this story is that after 5 months I have battled with all of this and managed to obtain proper health coverage for the following year, starting chemo and the battle against cancer now begins for me and my family. We are currently picking up the pieces of our lives that the chaos and uncertainty of the past 5 months had caused for us and learning to cope with the appreciation of our new lifestyle as we battle this cancer as a family. We pray and bless you brothers and sisters and not only are you blessing us with your love and graciousness but your assistance in picking up pieces of our lives and assisting us to prepare for old and new battles. I humble myself to write this message to you and realize how unpromised tomorrow is and how everything can change in the blink of an eye or the wave of God’s hand. You now have our truthful view of this life and everything in it. We want to fight, We want to win, We want to raise our children, We want to share my story with others, and We wanna be there for others in whatever way the Lord God calls on us for all the days of our life.

Thank You for Your Blessings,

Mariah Michele