When cancer changes everything your support helps families keep going
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A future interrupted by cancer.
Written by Kimberley Nava
The situation is not simply one of a young couple coping emotionally with a cancer diagnosis; they are also facing prolonged disability, substantial caregiving demands, ongoing medical care, and immediate financial instability. Juan has been hospitalized continuously for 126 days, with most of that time spent in the pediatric intensive care unit. His illness has been complicated by acute respiratory failure requiring a tracheostomy and mechanical ventilation, acute renal failure, and other life-threatening complications. As a result of these complications, Juan continues to experience severe functional limitations that are expected to persist for more than 12 months, meaning the impact of his illness will extend well beyond his hospitalization. Kimberley, who is also young, has taken on a substantial caregiving role throughout this prolonged and medically complex illness. She has assumed responsibility for many of Juan’s needs and, when necessary, has been legally responsible for making medical decisions on his behalf.
Their relationship and shared plans for the future were interrupted abruptly by Juan’s diagnosis, and Kimberley's caregiving responsibilities will continue well beyond his eventual discharge. Their circumstances will also remain challenging financially, as they face recurring transportation expenses associated with medical appointments and ongoing care, while basic necessities such as food and housing have become significant concerns.
Following discharge, the couple will move in with Kimberley’s mother in a mobile home, making family support an important part of establishing some measure of stability. Financial assistance would therefore provide much more than temporary relief from an isolated crisis. It would help this young couple meet basic living expenses, travel to necessary medical appointments, maintain stable housing, and navigate the prolonged period of serious illness, disability, caregiving, and recovery that lies ahead.
Cancer isn’t just something that changes the person who is diagnosed with it. It changes the entire family. I learned this when my partner was diagnosed with cancer. Before his diagnosis, I never really thought about how much a family could be affected by one person becoming sick. Throughout my whole life, I was blessed to never have to deal with health issues, so this was all completely new to me. In my eyes, I had always thought about the person fighting cancer, but I never realized how much the people who love them hurt, too. Sometimes everyone is so focused on the person with cancer that they forget the family is scared, worried, and hurting right alongside them.
It was supposed to be one of the happiest times in our lives. We had just celebrated his 20th birthday. We had both gotten amazing jobs, and for the first time, it felt like everything was finally going in the right direction for us. We were young and had so many plans for our future. Then as they say time is a thief and I watched it take everything before I knew it.
My partner had been experiencing symptoms that worried me. He had unexplained bruises, terrible headaches that painkillers wouldn’t relieve, extreme fatigue, and nosebleeds that lasted anywhere from ten minutes to an hour. I remember begging him to get checked out because something just didn’t sit right with me. Eventually, he went to the doctor. They requested labs and told him they would call him with the results.
On March 18, 2026, I was at work when I received a text from him saying that the doctors had requested he head to the emergency room for an urgent blood transfusion. At first, I tried not to panic. I remember thinking that maybe he was just low on iron and that everything would be okay. I had no idea that just minutes later, my entire life was going to be flipped upside down. He texted me again after hours and told me the doctors had said, “It could be cancer.”
I don’t think there is any way to prepare yourself for hearing that. Like many people, the C-word—“cancer”—is something no family or loved one ever expects or wants to hear. I remember feeling a deep, sinking feeling in my stomach. I didn't know how to react to such distressing news. Once the results came back and confirmed that he did have cancer, his family and I were heartbroken. It felt like our whole world had been turned upside down in a matter of days. He was only 20 years old. He was supposed to be making plans for the future and enjoying being young. Instead, his life very quickly became a blur of doctors, hospitals, and oral medications and IV chemotherapy. While he was the one fighting the cancer, the rest of us were fighting in our own way, too. When cancer takes hold, it grips the whole family and never lets go. While going through a cancer diagnosis, it's important that a family sticks together and builds each other up through the difficult times.
Unfortunately, that ideal doesn’t reflect everyone's reality. At 20 years old, I’d never imagined my youth would be defined by the walls of a hospital room, or that I would have to step up and fill the role of a primary caregiver for my partner. People often say that a crisis brings families together, but the tragic reality is that it can also reveal stark absences. The people who should have uplifted him—the family meant to protect and comfort him simply chose not to be there. I had to step into the vacant space left behind.
At 20, I found myself taking on heavy responsibilities: navigating complex healthcare systems, fighting to remove unauthorized insurance policies purchased in his name, securing proper medical coverage, and managing his care, all while trying to keep my own head above water. Our normal lives just stopped. Everything had to be completely reshaped around him. His aunt and I were his lifeline, meaning we had to learn how to navigate caregiving together, balancing hours at his side, filling in the gaps when the other was busy and making sure he was never alone. Before long, juggling a job alongside that level of care just wasn't realistic. Leaving my job was a heavy decision, but when it came down to it, there was nowhere else I needed to be.
Watching someone you love become sick and fight cancer and a list of life-threatening infections, while also mourning the familial love he deserved but didn’t receive, is one of the hardest things I have ever experienced. There were times when I wanted to be strong for him, even when I was falling apart inside. I didn’t want him to see how scared and lost I was because I knew he was already scared enough. There were moments when I would leave the hospital just to finally let myself cry. It was heartbreaking to watch the person you love go through so much pain and not being able to take it all away from them.
This is when I truly understood how cancer affects a family. Cancer does not stop at the person who receives the diagnosis. It affects everyone who loves them. We all experience the fear of getting a phone call with bad news. We all experience sleepless nights, uncertainty, and the feeling of helplessness. We all have to watch someone we love go through something that we wish we could take away from them.
Cancer has changed the way I look at life. It has made me realize how quickly everything can change and how important it is to appreciate the little things in life. My partner is the one fighting cancer, but his diagnosis has affected all of us. We are learning how to live with fear, how to be strong when we do not feel strong, and how to continue having faith even when things feel impossible.
Cancer may have entered his body, but it entered our entire lives. And even though we are not the ones receiving the treatment, we are fighting alongside him every single day.
Written by Kimberley Nava, the caregiver for 20 year old Juan Carlos Ibarra Garcia, diagnosed with pediatric/AYA cancer,
B-Lymphoblastic Leukemia, one week after his 20th birthday.
Your gift helps families with essential expenses
For more than 20 years, Heroes for Children has supported Texas families with children and young adults ages 0–22 who are battling cancer. Your generosity helps provide financial support for essentials such as housing, transportation, food, and utilities so families can focus on caring for their child.
Your year-end gift supports Heroes for Childrn’s assistance to families across Texas, including families facing circumstances like Juan and Kimberley’s.
Help a family face what comes next
Please make a gift by December 31 and help ensure that when cancer changes everything, families do not have to face the financial burden alone.