How I Overcame Illness to Become an Advocate, Survivor, and Mother

“Education is the only way out of poverty” was the mantra my Latinx family instilled in me as a young child. My abuela had no formal schooling. My Colombian Mami attended convent, and my Puerto Rican Papi entered the military as a teenager. It was up to me to break this generational cycle and lift my family’s status. Luckily, I was smart and had a strong work ethic, so I was able to place into a “gifted and talented” program offered in the public school system in Queens, New York. I skipped seventh grade and was on track to become a first-generation Latina living the “American Dream” when one day my body mysteriously stopped working.