Hi everyone - My name is Adriana, and I'm here to ask for assistance for my mom, Adela. My parents lost their health insurance about ten years ago (back when I was still in high school) as a result of our country's broken healthcare system. Given some recent happenings, I'm hoping to raise some healthcare funds for her.

Those of you in St. Louis might know my parents (Adela and Sal) from our small family restaurant, Lily's Mexican Restaurant, located in South City. As small business owners, they face an incredibly challenging time finding affordable health insurance options and have remained uninsured for the last decade. While my dad's diabetes and related health conditions have made these recent years difficult, they have always managed to make it through somehow. However, over the last few weeks, things have become much harder for them due to several conditions wreaking havoc on my mom's health.

First, she began losing mobility in her legs a few weeks back and initially wrote it off as the result of her arthritis. However, after several days, her legs had become severely swollen, walking became unbearable, and she began having pain around her ribcage, so she went to urgent care. Based on several labs/tests that would have to be covered out of pocket, the urgent care doctor diagnosed her with leg edema and infection due to the rupture of some of the fluid pockets. She was prescribed antibiotics and instructed to rest her legs for at least a week. After the week passed and the prescription ran out, my mom suddenly found herself completely incapable of walking for even a short trip from the couch to the bathroom. She also began to experience extreme ribcage pain, arm pain, and shortness of breath. While my sister and I urged her to go to the ER, she insisted on waiting it out overnight with the hope of saving some money and going to urgent care the following day. She was again subjected to many expensive labs/tests during that second urgent care visit. Eventually, she was diagnosed with severe lumbar arthritis, blood in her urine indicating likely urinary tract infection, ongoing infection in her leg from the edema, two cysts on her liver, and one cyst on her ovary. She was sent home with more antibiotics, pain medication, and muscle relaxers - not to mention more medical bills. She is beginning to feel better physically, but it seems that it will be a long recovery and potentially a chronic issue.

During this extensive journey, my parents have been financially impacted significantly. Not only have they accumulated several medical bills, but they have also been forced to shut down their business temporarily so that my mom could stay off her feet and recover. Furthermore, these ongoing health issues point to many more expenses down the road. While my siblings and I continue to offer our parents as much financial support as possible, we realistically are at the point of needing further support from our community members.

Any funds that are raised here with the help of your generous donations will go to the following:

Any support, financial or emotional, will be greatly appreciated by our family during this challenging time.