<div>Over a year ago, Maria—a dedicated fitness enthusiast, chemical engineer and advocate for a healthy lifestyle—found herself facing an unimaginable battle. Chronic pain, exhaustion, and unexplained weight loss left her searching for answers, but despite seeing multiple doctors, a clear diagnosis remained out of reach.

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<div>Then, everything changed in October 2024. While in severe pain, Maria traveled from California to Texas to celebrate Marcus' birthday with friends and family. Within hours of arriving, she could no longer urinate and was rushed to an urgent care. Just two days later, she lost the ability to walk and was taken by ambulance to a hospital in Austin, TX in a life-threatening condition.

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<div>After extensive testing, doctors discovered that Maria had developed a bacterial infection in her spine due to undiagnosed Lyme disease. Though 4 weeks of intensive treatment cleared the infection, the damage had already been done—Maria was left paralyzed from the waist down due to Transverse Myelitis, a rare condition caused by inflammation of the spinal cord.

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<div>Doctors gave her equal odds: a 33% chance of full recovery, 33% chance of partial recovery, or a 33% chance of no recovery at all. But if you know Maria, you know she’s not one to back down from a challenge. She has tackled this journey with unwavering strength, positivity, and determination. After weeks in the hospital, she was transferred to a rehabilitation center and is now receiving in-home physical therapy, making small but significant strides every day.

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<div>Unfortunately, while Maria fights for her recovery of Lymes and paralysis, she’s also facing an overwhelming financial burden. The five weeks she spent in the hospital with the spinal infection alone racked up more than $50,000 in medical bills. She attempted to file for disability immediately, but due to complications, relocations, and paperwork getting lost in the mail, she has yet to receive any financial assistance. It has now been <strong>four months</strong> with no income. Her savings are depleted and medical bills continue to pile up. Having lost her apartment and career due to the longevity of her illness, Maria is currently living with family in Texas.

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<div>Despite everything, Maria continues to face each day with a smile, celebrating every small victory along the way. Now, she needs our help. This GoFundMe is not just about financial support—it’s about rallying behind Maria so she can focus on what truly matters: Healing.

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<div>Every donation, no matter how small, will help cover essential medical expenses, therapy, and daily living costs as she works toward recovery. If you are unable to donate, please consider sharing Maria’s story. Your support, encouragement, and prayers mean the world to her.

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<div>Let’s show up for Maria the way she has always shown up for others. Together, we can help her regain her independence and continue inspiring us all with her incredible strength.

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<div>Donate today to be part of Maria’s journey to recovery.

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Familia y Amigos de Fernanda Mex

Anonymous

Johnson Huynh

Jeffrey Cardwell

Blake Shields

Mariana Sartorio

Victoria Burton

Catherine Hernandez

Nancy Rapada

Thomas Kane

Kellie Hyatt

Peter Palen

Support Maria's Journey to Healing

platform

Platform is iOS

Android

Adyen Google Pay Development Audience

$opt_dummy_attribute

English only

Deprecate Stripe Legacy

dyn_template_ids

Adyen V6 Bene Transfer & MyMoney Campaign Organizers - test01

Bene transfer V6 and AdyenV6MyMoney Campaign Organizers - production

OneTrust next-app audience

fundCountryCode

NextDoor Share Option Users

Fundraisers with Reactions feature capability

fundCurrencyCode

US + Non-charity COs Only

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fund country is US and user language is English

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comms-internal-person-ids

Enhanced Story Experience Users

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Poster share - new funds eligible (newest 9/18)

Streaming widgets beta user

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3DS payment method

user language is English and fundCountry: US, AU, DK, FI, IE, NO, SE, CA, GB; 

currencyCode

Money Box Donation List Prompt Experiment Audience

GoFundMe Employees

ipAddress

Mark Rieth IP Address

Version 9.2.0 and above

Fund is in English speaking country

desktop

Android v12.11.0 and above

Platform is Android

paymentMethodType

checkoutType

Payment method type group to be vaulted on success

admin pr kit prod

EUR Donation Upsell

Share Text generation Skip Fundraiser

(prod) new funds eligible for amp12 (UGC gallery)

fintrac_cad_idv_form_v2 audience

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fallback mode accounts

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p2p legacy startfundraising page

AMP24 New Funds Only PROD (DO NOT MODIFY)

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charityId

UKCharities

Federated Search Internal Testing

route.pathname community

US Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks Feature Audience

Supporter Comments Eligible Funds

International Only

fundId

braze fundraiser group 

Payment Identity Transfers ATO Risk Check (Targeted) - Production

Fundraiser Saved Payment Method Rate Limit Bypass (Production)

leaderboard-partner-id-audience-givepanel

Version 9.2.1 and above

AUD Donation Upsell audience

fundraiserCountryCode is US/EN

Active Fundraiser - Smart Default Cadence

DAF Internal

Vault on success card payment method

Platform is iOS v11.0.0 and above

Desktop users

Person ids

United States (US) users

allow yuno fundraisers for test

Mexico country code

Posters INTL

NPO Profile Opted-In

iOS at or above 12.4.0

non-US recurring donors

Canada Campaign Owner Group

Fundraiser Without Meta Link

Scheduler payment tester gorup

charityCommunityId

Charities allow to be claimed unclaimed (PRD)

Canada (CA) users

UC Tipping v20250115 International

pymk_production_xplr_fe_team

Android at or above 12.2.0

Profile photo entry point audience

smart goals (fundraiser/manage) on test01

Activity Tracking v1 Beta Testing

start gfm intl allowed locales

Platform is iOS v11.2.0 and above

NPO upsell education category

unclaimed charities

prod_ach_audience

AI Chatbot Audience

amp13 only new funds (prod) (anyword auto)

UC Flow Enabled (Prod)

Payment Identity Beneficiary Verification - Production

shared notification bell audience

Custom users

ach frontend audience

Android v11.0.0 and above

Users Receiving Payments Paused Notifications

smart goals test01

Manage Coach - US English Organizers Only + new funds only

Team EGG - IP Address list

NPO recommendations prod

Fundraiser Without Instagram Deep Link

Native 11.4.0 and above

UC Tipping v20250107

Users Receiving Braze KYC Validation Failed

ai_title_page

anyword

openai

control

manual_entry

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Native 11.3.0 and above

Native 11.4.0 and higher

New funds eligible - Video Sharing (PROD)

GB Donation Upsell audience 

Auto Thanks V3 Rollout Audience

Thank you V3 testing whitelist

isRecurringFriendly

Is Recurring Friendly

Excluded funds - Video Sharing

NPO upsell animals category

NPO upsell disaster relief category

Logged In Users

CH Donation Upsell audience

Android v10.6.0 and above

NPO upsell essential needs category

NPO upsell medical category

userCurrencyCode

Localized Currency

NPO upsell cancer category

v11.5.0 and above

testAudience

pathname

Survicate

appVersion is at or above 12.8.0

Non-charity fund

isChallengeFundraiser

challenge-fundraisers

Payment Identity Launch Verification - Production

New funds eligible - Posters v2

CAD Donation Upsell Audience

Braze Email Tester

NPO Profile Opted-Out

iOS App Version

hasKnownDonors

PYMK has donors

iOS v12.3.0 and above

Support Maria's Journey to Healing

Still $35,800 to go. Help us build momentum.