Soledad’s aunt helped her survive when no one else was there for her. Today, you can help her aunt survive covid-19.

If you’ve read Solito, Solita, you’ll remember the first narrative in the book, told by Soledad Castillo, who was a student of mine at City College at the time. You’ll remember that she was sexually abused by her stepfather as a child and when she told her mother, she didn’t believe her and sent her away to work as a housecleaner and nanny at age twelve, taking her out of school and basically abandoning her. Soledad then grew very ill, was misdiagnosed with Lupus, and was told by the doctors at the hospital that she would have to lose a leg and would probably die. Now she was abandoned, alone, and facing death. Her aunt became the one person who came to her aid. She took her home and then put her in a private hospital, where Soledad learned that she did not have Lupus, was taken off the medications, and got slowly better.

Last week, her aunt, Cordelia, was diagnosed with covid-19. Her condition has worsened every day and the doctors at the hospital say she will most likely not survive. Soledad is now raising funds to put her aunt in a private hospital, and hoping they can help her survive. The fees at her current hospital and the private hospital are steep. She’s already sent her $1,000 and has given what she can. If you or anyone you know has the means to donate towards saving her aunt, please do what you can to spread the word. Even five or ten dollars will help. These are trying times for all of us. If you can’t give, we understand and thank you for reading and caring.

Soledad is an incredibly inspiring person. As she says, “While I was in the hospital, I lost all hope. I didn’t want to live anymore, but my aunt dedicated her time to inspire me to continue fighting for my life. She taught me never to give up, always to be strong, and to have hope… My family back home has told me to get ready for the worst, but I know my aunt is strong, and she will be able to recover; I have hope. I created this Go Fund Me page because we want to transfer her to a better hospital to receive the proper treatment.”

Please see her gofundme page here, donate if you can, and spread the news far and wide!

If you haven’t read Soledad’s story, you can read about Soledad in this article in the Guardian and this one in Salon. You can also listen to her tell her story on this podcast we produced at CCSF and this interview on KALW.