Juanita 'Janie' Reyna

Hi, my name is Sierra & I am raising money to come up with the cost of a memorial service for my great-aunt, Juanita 'Janie' Reyna.

In the early morning of Friday, September 22nd, Janie had a major stroke caused by a large mass in her heart. She was found unresponsive and was transported to the ICU but the doctors have informed us that there are no further options as she suffered too much brain damage & has very little brain activity left.

Janie was 66 years old and still incredibly full of life. Growing up in my family home, Janie was always playing with the kids and she was my best friend throughout my entire childhood. She raised not only me and my siblings, but also my mom and her siblings and she was a second mom to every single one of us. Janie was born with a condition that limited her to having the mental capacity of a second grader. When my mom was born and a few years after Janie graduated high school, her older sister -- my grandma -- took her in and continued to be her guardian until she sadly passed away in 2014. My grandma taught her how to cook herself breakfast, make tortillas (that she would become famous for later, everyone in my family LOVED her tortillas) and how to live a comfortable life. Janie remembered every single person who walked through our doors and extended her fun and kind personality to every single one of them. Everyone who met her knew how pure of a person she was.

Our family is now struggling to process the emotional toll of unexpectedly losing our second matriarch as well as the stress of trying to come up with the funds for a service as quickly as we can. If we cannot raise the funds, all we will be able to afford is cremation and that would go against Janie's wishes. Any donation, big or small, will be greatly appreciated. If we unfortunately do not meet our goal, donations will be put towards left over medical expenses. If you cannot afford to donate, but you made it this far, we would be grateful if you could share this campaign with everyone you know. Please help us honor our aunt with a respectable memorial service.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and please keep my family in your prayers.

-Sierra Garcia