Help 3yo Valentina's family cover medical costs

Hi, my name is Haley Keller and my children attend Senita Valley Elementary's preschool where Valentina's mom, Priscila, teaches.

Priscila is such a loving and caring teacher and I was heartbroken when I heard about her 3yo daughter Valentina's medical condition and their family's financial and insurance struggles preventing her from getting necessary care and causing them to get behind on bills.

In short -

Valentina is 3 years old and has a rare Brain-Lung-Thyroid condition. Her parents are working opposite schedules so one is always at home with her. They have been referred to the pediatric specialist in this field who is located in Colorado, but her insurance has denied any out-of-state care. On top of that, some of her critical medications and supplements are not covered by insurance. Join me in supporting Valentina and her family to cover their medical costs and get her to Colorado to receive the care she needs. We do not have estimated costs for all the projected care and bills, but know it will be extraordinarily high. We will increase the goal as the fundraising continues, hoping to raise as much money as possible for Valentina's family. Every dollar helps.

In detail from Valentina's mom, Priscila -

Hello, my name is Priscila Quintana and I am the mother of three wonderful children; Valentina age 3, Xavier age 15, and Angel age 18. Valentina's father Saul and I do our very best to care for and provide for our beautiful children. We make a great team. Unfortunately, like many other families we have been facing some difficult challenges.

In 2019 my daughter, Valentina, was born with multiple medical conditions. After some time of not knowing what was causing her ailments our amazing pulmonologist had a hunch and ordered some testing. Turns out Valentina was born with two genetic mutations causing an extremely rare condition called Brain-Lung-Thyroid syndrome. This condition causes neurological disturbances, hypothyroidism, and respiratory problems beginning at birth. Some of the related problems that Valentina has faced are chronic lung disease, hypothyroidism, congenital hypothyroidism, hypermetropia of both eyes, gross motor development delay, and developmental delay. The neurological aspect of this condition has caused Valentina difficulty with walking. A walker provides her support to prevent falls which she experiences often. BLT affects the part of the brain that controls balance and while that alone would be a challenge she also contends against involuntary movement and low muscle tone.

Valentina required supplementary oxygen until she was one and a half years old and then was cleared to go without. We were elated to say the least. Unfortunately, that was short lived because in May of 2022 she came down with Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), a common respiratory virus that usually causes mild, cold-like symptoms. Most people recover in a week or two but due to Valentina’s condition she was hospitalized. She received a blood transfusion and other interventions including oxygen to bring her back from the brink. Doctors discovered that her lungs do not produce a liquid that healthy lungs produce to allow the lungs to expand and contract with ease. Therefore, Valentina’s lungs work harder, resulting in her being oxygen dependent 24/7.

After stabilizing her enough to come home, she can now continue to receive occupational, physical, speech and feeding therapy. She is under the care of pulmonology, cardiology, endocrinology, neurology, gastrology, ophthalmology, orthopedics, and a medical rehabilitation provider. It is overwhelming but we make a good team and Valentina’s courage, determination and charisma leads the way. She is the most inspiring human being to us because despite all the challenges she has faced she remains a cheerful, sweet, loving, polite, active, social little girl who loves to sing even when her lungs make it a challenge to do so.

Due to the extreme rarity of her disease Valentina’s pulmonologist has referred her to a Pediatric pulmonologist that specializes in pediatric interstitial lung disease in Colorado. They themselves have only seen two other cases of BLT. Unfortunately, her insurance has denied the authorization needed for Valentina to see this specialist which will result in us having to pay out of pocket. Financially, we cannot afford this. Although I am employed, I do not have a regular schedule due to all of Valentina’s medical appointments that include providers locally and in Phoenix. And while Valentina has been our number one priority, we also have two other children who need our time and energy.

As if all that wasn’t enough, my loving partner, Saul has been struggling with an autoimmune disease that affects the central nervous system causing inflammation in the nerves of the eye and spinal cord. This disease is called Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder (NMOSD), also known as Devic's disease. Vision loss, pain, and paralysis are just some of the ways that NMOSD can have a lasting impact on someone with this condition. Saul has been struggling with this disease since the age of 18 when he began losing his vision. Over the years, he has experienced several episodes with each one leaving him with permanent damage including having lost the vision in his right eye. He has spent time paralyzed from the neck down but through lots of physical therapy he has been able to partially recover, but not fully. In October of 2019, he had the worst attack ever just before the birth of Valentina; leaving him permanently disabled with new lesions on his spinal cord. Although he can walk again, he can no longer run or lift heavy objects and gets fatigued quickly if he is on his feet for long periods of time. He is physically limited to part-time work as working an eight-hour shift on his feet takes a toll on his back.

Financially, it has become exceedingly difficult for Saul and I to keep up with our expenses. We have become behind on our bills and as they continue to increase, we continue to get further behind. For example, our electricity has doubled, due to Valentina’s oxygen concentrator machine needing to be on 24/7. While Valentina’s medical insurance has so far covered most of her essential costs they do not cover some medications and essential supplements such as Pediasure which she needs to put on calories. God forbid Saul or I get sick and have to miss work because that would really set us back. It is hard enough as it is when we have to miss work during Valentina’s hospital stays or doctor appointments. While we are a very proud and hard-working couple we understand that sometimes it is ok to ask for help. We always try to help others in times of need because we know what it is like to experience difficult times. We appreciate any type of contributions that will help take some of the weight of the world off our shoulders so that we may try to sleep at night not worrying about losing our home or much worse losing our beloved Valentina.