A Note From Raul Murillo:

Where do I begin?

I have been married to my beautiful wife for over 19 years now and it has been a journey that I would not exchange for anything in this world. We have been blessed with 3 beautiful kids (not kids anymore) Kiera (22), Nattie (19), Isaiah (16). When you find your “true person” you want to fight for and provide for that person as much as possible, it is rare. For the first time in the past 20 years, I find myself not able to provide for her, specifically for her medical care expenses. My wife has been diagnosed with a rare and advanced Stage 4 Small Cell Cervical Carcinoma and to make things worse this is a very elusive, aggressive and is known to be very resistant to treatment. She has started chemo treatments and has two more sessions to go before we do imaging again to reassess and find out where we are at. I did not do myself any favors at first and immediately went online to research this disease. After reading 2 pages I immediately got off because everything I saw was very grim. I found that 15 out 100 women that are diagnosed with this type of cancer make it 1 to 2 years with treatment and less than 29% of those make it to the 5-year mark. After speaking with her oncologist, she confirmed this as well. The first 2 days we were numb, we did not know what the next steps should be. Thankfully, she found supports groups online that have given her hope and the gave her the will to fight this ugly disease for her family. Since joining these support group, she has found a doctor that is a specialist that only deals with the type of cancer Melanie has. I want to help her be a part of our son’s high school graduation (he is a junior). I want to help her be a part of watching our middle daughter play college softball and graduate college. I want to help her see our oldest start a career in a field she absolutely loves just like Melanie loves her career. And if time is in her favor maybe see one of her potential grandkids be born. We decided to fly to Houston to see this doctor and get a second opinion to give her the help she needs to accomplish some of these major milestones. With this comes travel expenses, our first trip has been covered by one of her support groups to get her to see this doctor. Which we are eternally grateful for, but this is just the beginning of this journey. During all this she still wants to work and take care of her clientele, but it is going to get increasingly difficult for her to do that as well. She loves what she does and considers her clients as family. Just as I feel like I am part of a family working here at Monster. The difference is she will eventually have to leave her clients behind and just fight this. I find myself appreciating life in a whole new perspective lately and refuse to let my ego get in the way now. I never thought something as life changing as this would ever happen to my family. I am in awe at the strong faith she has in God; I have seen it first-hand his presence in her life during this time and it is inspiring. A medical miracle is what we need now and believe she will be granted. The biggest need we ask for is prayers, good vibes, for her and if you can ANYWAY monetary contribution that can help with medical bills, medical needs, travel expenses etc. Thank you for your consideration and I am eternally grateful for what you can do to help Melanie be a part of endless life experiences and memories.