Standing by Ileana in Her Battle with Breast Cancer

What can I say about the person I love to the core? Ileana is the strongest woman I know. She has gone through so much in life that I don’t even know how she still manages to smile. She’s always been the one to give her heart and soul to everyone around her, and she’s never been one to ask for help or to share our personal struggles. She has fought bravely through many seasons of life, just like many of us, but right now, she’s facing the biggest fight of her life — breast cancer — and it’s taken a toll on us physically, emotionally, and financially.

When Ileana was diagnosed, I was working as a Lyft driver, which gave me the flexibility to care for her. But as her treatment wore her down, I made the decision to stop working altogether so I could be there for her full-time. We thought we could handle it on our own, like we always do. But her insurance at work isn’t covering all her treatments, and she’s been told she makes “too much” to qualify for Medicaid, even though the bills keep piling up. Because of that, I’m not able to be officially recognized as her caretaker, which means no help there either.

We’re now on the second part of her treatment, which is even harder on her body. This time, the treatment is every three weeks, but it knocks her out for two. Because of this, Ileana has had to go on medical leave from her job, which, as many of you know, is not even a full paycheck. We’ve already gotten ourselves into debt since this started, and we’ve fallen so far behind that we had to let one of our cars get repossessed. We’re using every bit of money we have to cover rent, medicine, and food.

Despite all of this, Ileana still tries so hard to show up with a smile. She’s not a quitter. She’s a fighter — and I know this. Even when it costs her every ounce of strength, she’s there for everyone else. And now, for her, we need help. She didn’t want me to do this at first, but she finally told me it’s time to reach out and ask.

While Ileana sleeps, I’ve been working on ways to help us stay afloat. It’s not much, but I opened a store on Etsy, upliftinghumor.etsy.com, with every bit of money from it going straight to our bills. I also started writing a book inspired by her journey. Ileana told me, “As long as you make it your own too,” so there’s a bit of sci-fi woven in. She’s given me her blessing to share her story this way and to use everything I can to help us through.

All of this — the Etsy shop, the book, and this fundraiser — are my way of standing by her side, along with taking care of her, our daughter, the dogs, and everything else in the house. We’ve tried to handle this on our own, but the weight of the bills and the cost of her treatment have become too much for us alone. Every dollar from this fundraiser will go directly to covering her medical treatments, catching up on bills, and keeping a roof over our heads so Ileana can focus on healing.

If you’re able to donate or even just share this page, it would mean the world to us. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for taking the time to read our story and for giving us a bit of hope in this tough time.