On December 2, 2025 my family received devastating news. Our mother, Tia was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma. In the weeks prior, the pending possibility of her diagnosis dampened our Thanksgiving as we all anxiously awaited test results. The cancer diagnosis came only weeks after losing her job due issues with FMLA.

Tia is the mother of 5 children and our entire lives she has made us the center of her world, always prioritizing our wants, needs and happiness over her own. She instilled in us all the importance of family and through this she has solidified herself as her children's support system, confidant, and biggest cheerleader. She's always available for a meltdown phone call (yes even from her daughter that is about to be 29). She is the sole caretaker for our 17 year old brother who is both neurodivergent and medically complex, requiring frequent therapies, medications, and specialist appointments. Anyone who has had the pleasure of knowing our mom, even if only briefly, knows her limitless capacity for empathy and compassion. Our mom truly embodies the notion of giving someone the shirt off of her back, sometimes even to her own detriment.

From our earliest memories, we all always remember our mom making a way through every difficult situation that was dealt her way. Single motherhood, financial insecurities and chronic illnesses for both herself and her children never caused her to waver in her strength to fight for us. Often times our mom acted as our one woman village, so now we are stepping up to be to her what she has always been to us and so many others. We are asking that you help us strengthen her village and support her in this journey that she can't complete alone. Only one day after her diagnosis, she has already been quoted over $5,000 for a PET scan that is needed to finalize her treatment plan.

Our goal is to help cover bills, medication, and medical treatment so that financial stress is not a barrier to her focus on beating cancer.