Hospice of Santa Barbara,
Valeria is a bright, resilient, positive mom doing everything she can to provide a good life for her 6 year old daughter. Valeria was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2017, luckily she is currently in remission and has recently connected with oncology care in Santa Barbara. She has had many hurdles to overcome since moving here. She and her daughter fled their home in Texas to escape domestic violence.
As an undocumented monolingual Spanish speaker, it has been no easy task to settle her daughter into school, provide nutritious meals, find work, establish insurance and find medical care providers. Her daughter is now happy at school, Valeria is working full time at a fast-food restaurant, and she has finally started her vital maintenance oncology treatment. However, the difficulty of finding somewhere to live in Santa Barbara was causing increasing stress as the extended family she was staying with pressured her to move out. She had registered at Transition House and was calling weekly to check for availability. She was thrilled when she found an affordable room to rent available right away, but didn’t have the cash needed for rent and deposit.
With the help of The Starfish Connection Gap Grant she was able to seize the opportunity. She and her daughter now have a stable, safe, loving home to start the next chapter of their life together. They have been incredible survivors and now have the opportunity to really thrive. Valeria sends the following words: “a thousand thank you’s! May God grant you the wisdom to continue to help those who need it”.