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“My Last Big Piece!” A Desperate Call for Help

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I'm sharing this to help my beloved cousin. Here is her message:

Dear friends, thank you so much for reading this story!

My name is Emma Francesca. I am a writer and a painter. I also work as a social media assistant, and I sell lasagne made with my family’s recipe.

With the intention to save my life, I want to share this painting with you. It is a very special one that was made back in 2012.

Unfortunately, until I can get treatment for my condition, this might be my last large-scale painting (40.5 x 29.5).

I have something called spinal muscular atrophy. It means that I am slowly losing the strength in all of my muscles. I have always been in a wheelchair, and that’s fine, but now it’s reaching my arms.

This has been extremely difficult to handle and has charged me with a huge emotional toll… But! the bright side is that I am still alive, I still have some strength, and although painting something as big would now be pretty much impossible, I can still paint, I can still do many things, and I can still dream!

So, for now, until a miracle happens and I can stop losing my strength, or maybe recover a bit of it, I’m calling this painting “My Last Big Piece”.

I want to give this painting away to someone who helps me with the emergency that I am about to describe, so if you love the tree from the picture up there and want to have a piece of who I was forever with you, talk to me about it!

Ok, let me explain. What happened? Why am I raising money?

I could go on and on with the last events that have hit my life lately, but I’ll just try to divide it by points and make it easy to understand for you all.

  • My mom is really sick. After caring for me her entire life, she developed a debilitating condition. Now she uses a wheelchair and although she understands and feels everything, she is not able to talk anymore.
  • This year alone, I've had to cover 4 additional hospitalization extra-costs, as well as private therapies and many medical supplies. As you can imagine, medical expenses can be overwhelming, but I'm grateful that my mom is now stable and enjoying some comfort, like watching Christmas movies with me.
  • We lost our accessible car with a ramp, which we relied on for over 16 years. Now, navigating the city with two wheelchairs has become extremely expensive. Modified vehicles with ramps are far more expensive than regular transportation services like Uber. So, for us, even simple tasks like going to do grocery shopping have become a source of anguish due to our limited financial resources.
  • Generous friends have lent me money to navigate these challenges and also to purchase a new wheelchair. Unfortunately, my previous wheelchair, kindly gifted to me, was too heavy to maneuver in areas with limited accessibility. Despite my best efforts, I haven’t been able to repay these loans, which weighs heavily on me. I'm eager to settle my debts and reconcile with my friends. I work so hard to pay. Yet, each month, I'm forced to prioritize expenses, as my income barely covers my essential needs, leaving me with insufficient funds to make ends meet.
  • And I am longing to keep painting. I want to use the strength that I still have in my hands to type on my computer (while I’m still able to) and write the stories for some books that I have in my mind.
  • I need to save some money, so that next year I can increase the salary of the wonderful caregivers who assist my mom and me with living.
  • If some cash is left, I need to put it aside, so that I can pay for the first fee to get a new car with a ramp. Like that, my mom and I will be able to easily move around again.
  • But eventually, looking beyond all this, my need is to save enough money from this fundraising, so that I get to work fewer hours each week next year. This would allow me to channel my remaining energy and physical strength into my true talents – painting, writing, and creating art. Maybe, just maybe, this will be the key to achieving success and becoming self-sufficient, so that I can take care of myself and my mom, and give my loving family the rest they deserve (as they support us despite their own great financial struggles).

I need to start over so that I can use the body that I still have to build a life for me and my mom. I feel I have so much to give to this world, I am eager to share my talents but I’m trapped in a financial situation that is taking precious time from my remaining abilities.

If you help me with a donation, you will forever remember that you were part of our living re-start, and maybe someday I’ll get my treatment and I will again be able to paint bigger scale paintings.

But that won’t happen if I don’t get out of the situations that are holding me from truly moving on.

Support our journey to help me do something important out of “My Last Big Piece!” Donate and help us turn our struggles into opportunities.

Thank you all and have a wonderful Christmas!
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Donations 

  • Jorge Moran
    • $20
    • 1 mo
  • Ana Angel
    • $10
    • 2 mos
  • Monica Vallejo
    • $80
    • 2 mos
  • Anonymous
    • $50
    • 2 mos
  • Lina Cuartas
    • $100
    • 2 mos
Donate

Organizer

Jaime Upegui
Organizer
Miami, FL

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