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Yudit Sierra Núñez, a 40-year-old Cuban mother living in Hialeah, in Miami-Dade County, is facing a battle against an aggressive cancer while working full-time to survive and support her daughter in Cuba.
Diagnosed with cancer related to Lynch syndrome, Yudit has been affected in the ovaries, colon, liver, and lymph nodes in the abdomen, and is receiving simultaneous chemotherapy and radiation therapy.
She continues to work full-time because she has no other choice.
"You have to pay rent, food, and bills while your body is undergoing treatment," wrote María José Santamaría, the friend who organized the fundraising campaign on GoFundMe, published on March 24th.
The situation of Yudit is worsening due to a series of simultaneous blows: her husband left her in the midst of the diagnosis and treatment, and the person who was taking care of her daughter in Cuba - her own mother - recently passed away due to colon cancer.
"Today, Yudit is completely alone facing a serious illness, with responsibilities that do not stop. There is no pause for her. There is no time to recover without worrying about money," Santamaría describes on the campaign page.
Yudit's close friends created the campaign practically against her will, as she opposed asking for public assistance.
"She feels very embarrassed to ask the community for help," also explained the journalist from Univision, Javier Díaz, who shared the case in a video on Facebook that went viral in the last few hours.
The cancer that Yudit is suffering from is linked to the Lynch syndrome, a hereditary genetic disorder that significantly increases the risk of developing colorectal, ovarian, liver cancer, and cancer in other organs.
The original goal of the campaign is to raise 30,000 dollars to cover rent, basic expenses, and treatment costs. So far, the campaign has raised 8,383 dollars through 225 donors, towards an interim goal of 12,000.
"You have to choose between resting or continuing to work to survive", Santamaría sums up in a phrase that encapsulates the harsh reality this Cuban mother faces every day.
Yudit's case reflects a common reality among Cuban immigrants in South Florida: the lack of a family support network, the challenges of affording cancer treatments, and the necessity of turning to crowdfunding to survive.
Hialeah is the city with the highest concentration of Cubans and Cuban-Americans in the United States, and its community has responded with solidarity in similar situations in the past.
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