Shine Your Light on the Lightner Family

My name is Laura. I have the privilege of having the Lightners in my life for over 20 years. Please meet this amazing family of 9. Greg (dad), Gigi (mom), Jesula (Granny), Giana, Lily, Gevont, Giavonna, Gizelle and Gabby (children).

Greg and Gigi have been married for 22 years and I can truly say they are a beautiful example of what it means to be selfless and loving to not only their immediate family but to the many lives that they encounter throughout their life journey. They are consistently giving of themselves in many ways and not to mention their children are bright, caring, and loving. Family and faith means everything to the Lightner’s and that is evident in how much they support and love each other through anything that comes their way. The Lightner’s currently live in Florida and are very connected to their community. Giana is an intelligent college student whose goal is to become a doctor. Lily is a beautiful and motivated young lady who is not just beauty, but brains all in one package. Gevont is handsome, athletic, smart and a proud brother to his sisters. And of course, who can forget the joyful three little mamas Gaby, Giavonna and Gizelle. These three little souls bring happiness and smiles to the Lightner family and anyone that they come in contact with.

Throughout their life the Lightner’s have experienced great joys but also great loss. One of those great losses was the death of Greg’s mother in 2013. This loss had a great impact on the entire family but through it all they still smiled, encouraged others, and continued to spread the joy and love that they live by in their own family. One of the most recent joys that they experienced was the addition of their daughter Gizelle who they adopted in August 2021.

Unfortunately, the last year has been extremely tough for this family. They have been dealing with some very difficult health attacks. These attacks were something that they could not have even imagined and it all happened within a very short period of time. Greg also known as Diamond Gee was diagnosed with stage 4 terminal cancer of the perineum and was sent for surgery for removal of one of many of the cancerous tumors on January 5th. He was on life support for 3+ hours and Aetna ended up wrongfully cutting off his health insurance. He has endured a hard and long road back to recovery and some semblance of normalcy. After Greg’s second hospitalization (after his surgery), Giana ended up with blood clot’s in her brain that were causing her intense headaches and caused her to be hospitalized for over a month, doctors gave her a 3% chance of survival. While she was in the hospital Giavonna came to visit her and had to have an emergency appendix surgery due to her appendix bursting. The week Giana came home from the hospital with her mother and father, Grann ended being taken to the hospital. They discovered that she was suffering from double kidney failure and she was diagnosed with terminal stage 4 cervical cancer. She ended up staying in the hospital for over a month and a half. As you can imagine the stress of all of this is weighing very heavily on the family.

The reason for this goFund me is to assist the family with getting their much needed 15-passenger van out of the mechanic shop. This will alleviate the stress of using one car to transport their kids to and from school, sports activities, as well as transport Gigi back and forth to the hospital to visit and care for Grann. Getting the van back would also help Gregory out tremendously as he is disabled and has much easier mobility with the van. Unfortunately, the van was damaged during a ride back from the airport on November 16th, which is the same day that Gregory was diagnosed with his cancer. The additional insurance that they purchased to cover these types of occurrences will not cover the costs of fixing the van.

The grand total for the repairs was $11,482.32. Unfortunately, due to the various health attacks, it has made it very difficult for the Lightner's to make the payments for repairs. Today the balance that they owe is $6,782.32. This amount must be paid no later than October 31, 2023 or they will file for a "Mechanical Lean" and the Lightner's will lose their van (see documentation proof in photos).

I am asking that we come together to assist with raising the funds to help the Lightner’s get their van back. With all that they are dealing with this one thing can help bring a little joy and peace back to their family. Any amount that you can assist with is appreciated.

Thank you in advance for helping.

Here are some photos of this beautiful family.