Monica’s Hope 4 Cancer

Dear friends and family. I am reaching out to you to ask you for your support and help in raising funds to cover the costs of a non-toxic cancer treatment in Tijuana, Mexico. Below is a brief history of my battle with this horrible disease.

We moved to New Jersey from Medellin, Colombia when I was 10 and I have called this place home ever since. Englewood is the town where I went to school; it’s where the house that my brother and sisters grew up in still sits; it’s the place that I mourned when I left to serve our country for 7 years and it’s where I returned to after military service; it’s where I formed my strongest ties and my deepest friendships. This is where I grew up...and it's the place where I want to grow old.

My journey with cancer began 9 years ago when I noticed a small lump on my breast. It was then when I began my very first round of treatments - the conventional western practices which most of you know as chemotherapy and radiation.

It was a scary time in my life - my marriage was young, I had a brand new infant that needed 100% of me - but we remained strong and confident that I would receive the necessary therapies and then it would be over and behind us.

Two years later, in 2010, I sat in front of my doctor and was told that the cancer had metastasized to other parts of my body - this time, it was in my bones. Again I followed the protocol - more chemo, more radiation, more surgery.

Together with my family and my friends, we held on to hope, we stayed faithful and we prayed.