4 year old battles with leukemia; Family needs $15,000 to keep Indio home from foreclosure

One Indio mother falls behind on her mortgage as her four-year-old son battles leukemia. She said she has until March 30 to pay the bank $15,000 before she faces foreclosure. She said the last two years have been overwhelming.

“Having someone [such as] a child with cancer, it just paralyzes you,” Maria Lopez said.

Lopez is the mother of four-year old Isaiah who was diagnosed with leukemia at age two.

“We’re almost at two years of treatment now. He’s just been having a little bit of complications,” Lopez said.

Lopez said when the diagnosis came in, she’s been by her son’s side, taking off work for the last year.
Luckily, she said, insurance has covered most of the medical expenses but her bills and mortgage payments have piled up, putting her at risk of losing her home.
The Desi Strong Foundation, in memory of Desi Cechin who died of cancer, has stepped in to help the family.

“She is just a very humble person that feels that her problems are her problems and nobody else’s and to me that breaks my heart because when you get a cancer diagnosis its shattering, world shattering. Your whole life is turned upside down,” Tanya Moreno with the Desi Strong Foundation said.

Lopez said she appreciates the help knowing that being with her son is her top priority

“When they tell you that your son has cancer, I would hear it before I just never thought it would happen to us it just changed our life completely,” Lopez said.

Lopez said her home is more than one year behind in payments. The bank needs $15,000 from them to keep their Indio home.

A fundraiser for Isaiah and Lopez was held at the Palm Desert Aquatic Center Wednesday, March 8.

The Scorpion Water Polo team will be holding a match and fundraiser for the family. The Desi Strong Foundation said it will match up to $4,500 to the family.

Babe’s Bar-B-Q Brewhouse held a gift card promotion to help the family. They met and surpassed their $3,000 fundraising goal and plan to present $3,600 to Isaiah’s mom. Arthur Vasquez, Chef/Operations Manager told KESQ and CBS Local 2 that they had such an incredible response, they even ran out of the promotional gift cards.

While the Babe’s and Water Polo fundraisers have passed, if you would like, you can still make a donation by clicking here.