Juanita's life was challenging at times, but she had many reasons to be thankful. Her husband, Victor, was always caring and supportive and they had two healthy daughters, Natalia, age 14 and Emma, age 11. Money was tight, but she and Victor were both employed full time. She had recently started on the custodial staff at an elementary school and he was working as an auto mechanic.

Everything changed when she visited her doctor and was told she had breast cancer.  There were numerous follow-up visits and she soon learned she would need to have surgery and chemotherapy to fight the spread of the cancer. Not only would she be too sick to work, she would need help at home.

She was still in her probationary period at her job, so she had no disability insurance. This coupled with the fact that Victor took unpaid time off after her surgery meant the family's income was severely reduced. They were able to pay the mortgage, but they fell behind on their bills including the electricity. When they realized they would soon lose power at their house, they reached out to the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay and were connected to the Family Stabilization department.

Their Case Manager, Lynnette, immediately worked with Juanita and Victor to stabilize their situation. She was able to provide funds for the electric bill and she worked with the family to develop a household budget that reduced their monthly expenses.

Juanita was eventually able to go back to her custodial job, but the physical nature of the work was exhausting.  Lynnette realized that Juanita qualified for funding that would allow her to be trained as a Child Development Associate (CDA).  This would allow her to follow her passion of working with children, while drastically reducing the amount of physical work she has to perform while undergoing chemo treatments over the next year.

Today, Juanita is cancer free but is still receiving her treatments. She will soon be working as a CDA and is looking forward to a new career. Victor recently received a promotion and a raise, which is helping them to allocate money to a savings account each month.

A crisis can strike anyone at any time. Your support of the Crisis Center provides help, hope, and healing to people like Juanita and Victor so they don't have to go through their crisis alone. To learn more about the Crisis Center's work in the community, be certain to attend a 60-minute lunchtime TOUR.