Hello! my name is Crystal and this fundraiser is for my sweet sweet mom, Marina. I never thought I’d make one of these, simply because I never thought it could happen to me, until it did. I’m learning to take the advice I give to others, and acknowledge when it’s time to ask for help. so for those who stay and read this, I truly thank you. My mom went back to Mexicali 7 years ago, and just recently got diagnosed with Huntington’s Disease.

For those who don’t know what Huntington’s disease (HD) is, it is a genetic neurological disease that affects the brain. There is no cure, and life expectancy after being diagnosed is 10-20 years. My mom had been undiagnosed the past 7 years until 2 weeks ago.There are medications to control the symptoms, but it does not slow it down. HD progresses slowly as the years go by. Eventually the person with HD becomes unable to retain new information, cognitive disfunction develops, lack of memory, severe involuntary movements that cause imbalance, to where you eventually cannot bathe yourself, forget how to eat, swallow and walk.

There are 5 stages to this disease and my mom is stage 3. Just two years ago she was able to charge her own phone, and now she no longer remembers how, and gets confused on how to answer my calls. When you’re stage 3 you need 24hr care, can no longer work or manage household responsibilities, and ability to think becomes impaired. Her motor features worsen, lack of memory, severe depression/suicidal thoughts, severe weight loss, and ability to keep up with her hygiene doesn’t exist.

my mom is my back bone, shes the air I breath, my ocean and motive; we only have each other now. She has always been a bad ass, hard working Latina woman who made it happen for her kids. There aren’t enough words to describe how much of a super woman she is. like they say, “ I got it from my momma!”so Not being able to be with her and help her physically and emotionally is unbearable, I think about it every damn day. My mom is basically alone in Mexicali, And Mexicali is not an ideal place to live. it’s a very poor environment and not many resources. I have an aunt that has been taking care of her for me, however she no longer can help. it has taken a toll on her physically and emotionally, and simply cannot do it anymore. The landlord of my mom’s home is also asking for the house back by October. HD is an exhausting, emotionally hard disease to help with, so I completely understand the hardship my aunt is going through.

Frankly, I am in complete loss on what I can do to help her. all I know is that she needs me and I need to do something Soon. Because Im scared I don’t have much time, Could be a year, could be more. Trying to process ALL of this alone as a 25 year old has been overwhelmingly hard. I wish nothing more than for my mom to just hold me right now and reassure me that it’s gonna be ok, like when we had bad dreams as kids. But when push comes to shove we have to keep it moving! My mom made a strong woman, so I’m glad that it’s my turn to now tell her that it’s gonna be ok.

the purpose of this page is to help my mom raise enough money by October or sooner, to be able to provide her with an in-home nurse for a year, a stable place to live, and possible lawyer fees because the goal is to bring her back, i have to. We only have one mom and i want to spend as much time with her as I can. I am currently consulting with immigration attorneys to see what my options are to bring her over here do to her Illness. I have no idea how much all of this is gonna cost, I’ve done some research on care givers in Mexico, and about half of that amount can cover at least a year of an in-home nurse for her. Asking for more than what I think I need is the last thing I’m trying to do. However if I’m able to raise more, it will only help that much more.

If you made it this far, From the most genuine part of my heart, and on behalf of my mom, thank you. Thank you to everyone who read my post and heard me out. This was out of my comfort zone, but momma needs rescue so here I am. It doesn’t matter if you have no means to donate, a simple share and exposure to get the word out, is MORE than enough!! Those actions can go MILES.  let’s get Momma Marina the help she deserves! ❤️