Help Fund Maria Ospina's Continued Medical Care

Hi everyone. As expected, the past couple of months have been extremely difficult. The grief and sense of loss that you feel after someone you love passes away is something that you can truly never fully prepare for. However, with the support of our closest friends and family, we have managed to find moments of peace and comfort. And although we understand that grief is never linear, it has been eased by the passage of time.

Unfortunately, for our mom, time hasn’t been able to provide the same solace yet. As some of you may know, our mom has been struggling with severe depression since before DJ was even diagnosed. She has always taken it seriously and sought help by going to therapy, outpatient programs, psychiatrists and doctors. However, understandably, in the past year and a half, her mental health has worsened despite our best efforts.

In December, about a month after DJ’s passing, we decided that perhaps by going to Colombia and changing her environment, her pain would be alleviated just enough for her to see some hope beyond the despair. Although it helped a little at first, it proved to not be enough. After several weeks of being in Colombia she started to suffer from consistent bouts of suicidal thoughts as well as delusions and hallucinations. At this point, it was made clear to us that these symptoms weren’t going to go away on their own and could quickly and easily lead to her harming herself. Together with our grandma, uncles and other extended family, we came to the conclusion that our mom needed professional care in a treatment center where she would be given the tools and support she needed to get better.

We pooled our resources together and found a treatment center in Bogota where she was hospitalized for a couple of weeks. Thankfully, the medical team there was amazing and they helped her deal with the more dangerous symptoms of her depression. Since then, she’s been going to an outpatient program at the same treatment center and will continue to need consistent treatment for the foreseeable future.

Throughout all the messages of love and support we’ve received over the past several months, there’s been one recurring question posed by many of you, that has been difficult for us to answer. That question is

“How can we help?”

It’s been difficult to answer because it’s hard to ask for more when we have already been given so much. We will never be able to adequately express or quantify the gratitude we have for each and every person who donated and shared DJ’s campaign.

But we’re now at a point where it would be foolish to ignore offers of support.

That’s why we are answering that question with this new campaign.

We are asking for your help in raising awareness and money so our mom can keep living in Colombia for the foreseeable future and continue to get the comprehensive medical care she needs. The combination of being in her home country with her immediate family and the effectiveness of the treatment center in Bogota has been invaluable and the main reason she’s still with us today. Unfortunately, we no longer have the financial resources for her to stay in Colombia while still receiving medical care. Even though she’s made some undeniable progress, her medical team has made it clear that that progress is tenuous and could come undone in the wrong environment.

Mental illness by itself is uniquely destructive & insidious, but it’s made even moreso by the stigma it carries and by the ignorance that surrounds it. It is our hope that by asking for help, we are also shedding light upon the gravity of mental illness and giving something that’s somewhat intangible, the sense of urgency and importance it deserves.

Thank you to everyone who’s reached out to us, brought over food, donated money or shared any of our campaigns. We couldn’t be more grateful and we hope that one day, we can somehow pay it forward ❤️

— Juan-David, Andres-Mauricio, and Alejandro Arbelaez-Ospina