Hello Everyone,

My name is Lupe. I am trying to raise $9,800 by this upcoming Friday (4/22/16) for my Mom's funeral expenses and medical bills incurred during her care at the hospital and rehabilitation center for a total of 3 months. While our need is larger than this quantity, we simply want to get the most immediate cost covered with your help.

My Mom, Maria Garcia was born in Mexico and immigrated to the USA, where she worked hard as a farm worker, breaking her back to send my siblings and I to school and give us the best opportunity she could with what she could and became a US citizen later in life. Unfortunately, I lost my job 3 weeks ago and cannot help pay to put my mom to rest.

My Mom was a very kind person and very reserved as everyone who knew her, will confirm. She was willing to give what little she had to help those who needed help. She passed away unfortunately two days ago (4/15/2016) from multiple complications that she only found out about around 4 years ago.  She had Sjogrens Disease, an auto immune disease with no cure that caused her body to shut down and be attacked by its own defenses. It was also discovered that my Mom had a weak heart. Her muscular heart tissue was thin and/or weak, making it difficult to properly pump her blood.  She went through lung and kidney failure multiple times.

The final week I spoke with her was last Friday (April 8th), she could barely speak even though everyone thought she was looking better. They removed the medication early in the week in hopes of making her conscious again. Unfortunately, after being stabilized on Thursday, her body crashed the same night. We were called by the hospital at 1 am on Friday morning only to find my Mom hooked up to the life support machine with medical tubes still down her throat, breathing heavily, unresponsive and still unconscious. She ended up having two heart failures that morning. Doctors asked us later what we wanted to do if she had another heart attack. We asked that they let her rest, we did not want her to be in pain anymore. It was a terrible experience waiting for her body to make its last heartbeat.  

We died a little that day. The woman who raised us and worked in some terrible places to give us a better life, lay there before us without life.

Please help us to honor her memory and give her a comfortable funeral and help close her medical expenses so that my siblings can continue their lives. Especially my sisters, who have given up so much to be closer to her. One gave up UC Santa Barbara and the other gave up other university options so she could stay at home and care for her. She may have not been anyone you knew or thought much off, yet to my siblings, many others and I, she was our hero!

All funds will go towards funeral expenses and medical bills. THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH for reading this far and for your willingness to help her rest in peace after being through so much with the help of your contributions!