 Grant Recipient: Leticia
Grant Recipient: Leticia
Diagnosis: Stage IV Breast Cancer
Treatment: Chemotherapy
Grant used for: Housing costs
A Trip to the ER Leads to a Shocking Diagnosis
When Leticia, known as “Lety,†went to the ER for stomach pains at the end of October in 2016, the last thing she expected was for a CT scan to discover a mass in her right breast. “It was a shock to me,†wrote the 48-year-old caregiver. The shocks weren’t done coming. A biopsy and a PET scan eventually found that Lety had stage four cancer and that it had metastasized to her liver. Her doctors put her on an initial six-month course of chemotherapy.
No Longer Able to Work
Before her cancer diagnosis, Lety worked as an independent caregiver. The work was long, difficult, and physically demanding. As a result of her chemotherapy, Lety can no longer work. As an independent contractor, Lety is not eligible for disability. When she stopped working, the money stopped coming in.
A Housing Cost Increase
Superstition says that bad luck comes in threes, and Lety’s experience seems to prove the myth right. On top of having breast cancer and being unable to work, Lety’s housing costs also went up right around the time she received her diagnosis. With no money coming in and only limited help from her adult daughter and parents, Lety asked us for help in covering her increased housing costs.
In her grant request, she told us how difficult it’s been going through chemo every three weeks. The treatment leaves her weak, tired, dizzy, and nauseous.
Lety Gets a Grant
We wish we could make Lety’s chemo treatments better, but at least we can help take away some of her financial pressures. Thanks to the generosity of our donors, our grant to Lety helped her pay her monthly housing costs so she can focus on getting through her treatment. We sincerely hope that her cancer responds to the treatment and that she will one day be able to reclaim her old life.