Help Lavinia Get the Life-Changing Healthcare She Needs

My daughter, Lavinia Magdalena, is 17 years old and one of the most extraordinary people I know. She’s brilliant, driven, and resilient. Despite living with chronic health conditions, she earned her high school equivalency with high scores at age 16 and is now pursuing her associate’s degree at El Paso Community College. Her future is so bright—but right now, she needs urgent help to stay healthy enough to reach it.

Lavinia has been medically fragile for most of her life. She’s lived with hearing loss since age 4 after undergoing a mastoidectomy and eardrum graft. That graft has now become retracted and we're in the process of determining whether she needs further surgery.

Recently, Lavinia was also diagnosed with pectus excavatum, a condition that causes her chest wall to press inward—so severely that it’s compressing part of her heart. She’s been tired, dizzy, and lightheaded for years, and now we finally know why. The good news is that there is a surgical solution.

The hard news is: we have to travel from El Paso to Galveston, Texas, for this specialized care. And we need help. Her surgery is scheduled for July 7th and we are needing any help we can get to make it there and back.

I’ve raised Lavinia as a single mom, working full-time as a social worker. She has been raised with her three siblings in my household, and she’s a wonderful sister. Her dad and his family, who live in Montana and El Paso, love her deeply and are supportive. But I’m the parent responsible for her healthcare at this time, and with Lavinia living in my home full-time, the costs are overwhelming.

We’re losing CHIP coverage at the end of May, just as we’re preparing for these surgeries. I’ll have to enroll in a Marketplace plan with high premiums, co-pays, and deductibles. I’ve already used up all my paid time off for medical appointments, and any travel for surgery now means unpaid leave. I’ve had to surrender my car back to the lender to afford health insurance—but I still need transportation to work and to get Lavinia to care.

We’re fundraising to cover:

Travel and lodging for the surgery in Galveston

Medical expenses including insurance premiums and co-pays

Lost wages due to unpaid leave

Basic living needs while I care for my daughter and our family.

I’ve always been independent and have never asked for help like this. But this situation has become a crisis beyond what I can manage alone. Lavinia is worth every effort—it breaks my heart that money is the barrier to her health. I’m reaching out with hope and humility. If you’re able to give, every donation will go directly toward her care.

Thank you for reading, for caring, and for standing with our family during this difficult time. We are deeply grateful.

With love and hope,

The McCollum and Guerrero families.