SUPPORT JESSICA'S FIGHT AGAINST STAGE IV CANCER

2024 was a normal year. Approaching two decades together with her husband Freddy, raising 2 beautiful kids, Dominic (7) & Layla (9), running around as all parents do... until a nagging hip pain began to slow Jessica down. After an initial doctor's visit the next 3 months unfolded in growing confusion, billowing tension, and ever-increasing pain, reaching a zenith where Jessica could no longer work let alone walk.

Then in November, a litany of testing revealed the unthinkable nightmare had become a reality - the pain in the hip was being caused by an expanding cancerous mass, and it wasn't the only one. The 38-year-old mother of two, who had never smoked, was diagnosed with Stage 4 Lung Cancer (Adenocarcinoma). This was as shocking as it was horrifying, but the tears of this life-altering discovery could not even make their way through those of a more immediate agony - she was now bedridden and in excruciating daily pain.

Jessica was told she did not bring this on with years of bad habits... that someone her age should never receive a diagnosis like this... rather she is a victim of genetics & biology, and as a result the rest of her life will be spent in some form of treatment. By the time the discovery was made the cancer had spread across her body. She has now undergone some targeted radiation and is in the initial stages of chemotherapy, which wreaks its own form of havoc on the body.

Now down to a single income her husband took on a second job, but quickly realized that coupled with the kid's care and Jessica's increasing medical needs, it creates an impossible scale to balance. Sleep has become an unaffordable luxury. Pain has become a way of life, it is something she can only manage but never fully free herself of. The family has stepped up in every way they can. Jessica's children need their mother, her parents Ana & Chuck need their daughter, Freddy needs his wife, & Lorena, Veronica & Carla need their sister.

This is a tragedy in its purest form... a tale too often told... but hers is a story still being written. We invite you to help us compose the next chapters, not as a tragedy, but as a triumph. Jessica has vowed to fight this cancer with everything she has. A recent meeting with a team of oncologists at UCLA, where they are studying the growing anomaly of young female never-smokers contracting lung cancer, may be able to provide some targeted treatments that could prove to be incredibly instrumental in the success of her care. This will require her relocation, away from her family for periods of time. Nothing that follows will be easy, everything will be costly & consuming... but nothing is impossible. Your support will not just be meaningful for the logistics of the foreseeable future, it will strengthen the heart & the mind of someone who needs an army to fight this formidable foe. So an army we shall raise, of those who've been touched by having Jessica in their lives, and those who've yet to have the chance.

If you're reading this you have likely been affected by cancer, whether through family, a partner, a beloved friend or a friendly neighbor... or perhaps you are a survivor. In all instances we thank you deeply for sharing your time, your resources of any capacity, & invite you to share your stories.

2024 did not end for Jessica as it began... a normal year... but 2025 turns the page. We will keep you updated as it unfolds. We are titling this next chapter 'Hope,' as it is one of very few things cancer can touch, but never take from us.