Edit: For some reason, the language is automatically set to Portuguese, and I’m not sure how to switch it to English. If you can't translate the page, "Doar agora" is the "Donate now" button and "Compartilhar" is the "Share" button.

Hi, my name is Natalya! I'm 19 and an undergraduate student at Northwestern studying international relations pre-law. I'm from Chicago and moved to LA last year.

About 7 months ago, my life changed very suddenly, and I became incredibly sick. Extreme exhaustion that couldn't be helped with better sleep or eating healthier, random fevers, rapid weight loss, itching, and lumps growing in my neck. What I initially wrote off as stress or overworking, quickly became months of ER trips, imaging, appointments, labs, and worsening symptoms.

After several ultrasounds, CT scans, ER trips, a PET scan, several biopsies (one of which led to a severe MRSA infection in my neck and a 10-day hospital stay), hundreds of labs and appointments, and a second-opinion at Mayo Clinic, my oncologists strongly believe I have Stage III classical Hodgkin's lymphoma.

My biopsy specimens were damaged during collection and processing, making the proper pathological testing impossible and non-diagnostic. My oncologist is redoing the pathology, but if they still unable to do the proper staining and immunohistochemistry, I will need to undergo another, more invasive, surgical biopsy.

Given all of this, while still being a student, it has been incredibly difficult to work consistently. I've been on medical leave since my surgical biopsy (5/29/26). While I plan to return to work, it's likely I will have to take medical leave again should I need the other surgery and while I go through chemotherapy. Transportation, healthy food, and living expenses are a lot to cover from my savings alone.

Any support is so greatly appreciated and will go towards my transportation costs to and from appointments, travel to future appointments at Mayo Clinic, healthy food, medical costs for out-of-network providers, and allow me to focus on my treatment, recovery, and education.

Whether you donate or share this fundraiser, your kindness means the world to me! Thank you for taking the time to read my story and for supporting me during this difficult chapter of life. :)