CHICAGO (WLS) — A community is making Chicago Proud, pulling together to put on a quinceañera after the guest of honor was diagnosed with cancer.
Vianny Maldonado and her family were all set to celebrate her 15th birthday this weekend, but then the diagnosis came.
Her family had to repurpose the money they saved for her party for her treatment.
Many people in Chicago Lawn, including complete strangers, made sure she still got a celebration.
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For Maldonado and her family, it was a moment rich with emotion. On her 15th birthday, their hearts have never been fuller.
“It’s overwhelming, but in a great way,” Jannet Mendoza, the mother, expressed about making the day special for her daughter. “I’m speechless. I’m lost for words.”
The quinceañera marking Maldonado’s coming of age nearly didn’t happen after she was diagnosed with B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia.
Maldonado has been dealing with frequent hospital visits for months. To cover her medical expenses, the family was forced to cancel the party they had been planning.
I’m getting emotional, knowing how special this is for her. She’s going through challenging times, and it’s her birthday.
Jeanette Arteaga, business owner
“I was dreading having to tell her,” Mendoza said. “I mean, even just seeing her face when she found out she had cancer was just, it’s engraved in my head.”
But when community organizer Eddie Guillen learned of the family’s plight, he put out the word in the Southwest Side neighborhood and something remarkable happened.
“The vendors, the small business really came together, and I think that’s important, able to see that miracles do happen,” Guillen said.
People, mostly strangers from the city, suburbs and even out of state donated a cake, all the decorations, plenty of food, as well as a DJ and a stretch limousine, all in less than a week.
The Eco Shop and Refillery business owner Jeanette Arteaga offered up a space behind her shop, and the party was on.
“I’m going to get emotional, because I know it’s very special for her. I know she’s going through a hard time right now, I mean, and it’s her birthday,” Arteaga said. “And just to see that the community, people that don’t even know her are stepping up to show her some love.”
The community even organized a car caravan to join in the celebration
For Maldonado and her family, it was a birthday wish come true.
“I’m a loss of words,” Mendoza said. “It’s so surreal, it’s still very surreal to me.”
Maldonado is an A student and will be starting 10th grade in the fall. Her mother said because of her cancer battle, she aspires be an oncology nurse.
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