One Sister's Journey. Seven Sisters' Calling.
In July 2021, Griselda E. Silva received a life-changing diagnosis: Stage 3 endometrial cancer.
The news brought fear, uncertainty, and an emotional weight she was not prepared for. Griselda experienced periods of depression and fear as she tried to understand what the diagnosis could mean for her life, her marriage, her family, and her future.
One of her first and most difficult struggles was telling her husband. His birthday was approaching, and she wrestled with sharing news that would change both of their lives during a time that was supposed to be filled with celebration.
There was little time to process everything. Treatment had to begin.
Over the next two years, Griselda underwent aggressive radiation and chemotherapy. Treatment took a tremendous toll physically and emotionally. Everyday necessities changed. Her skin became extremely sensitive, requiring different hygiene products. Clothing and undergarments became uncomfortable, and medically recommended dietary changes created additional expenses.
Then came another side of cancer that few families are prepared for: the financial impact.
As treatment affected Griselda's ability to work, her hours were reduced—and so was her income. At the same time, the cost of living with cancer continued to grow. Halfway through treatment, she lost her medical coverage, adding another frightening layer of uncertainty to an already overwhelming journey.
Griselda was fighting for her health while worrying about how she would afford the very things she needed to keep fighting.
Then Sisterhood Showed Up
Throughout it all, Griselda's six sisters surrounded her.
They helped financially when expenses became overwhelming. They purchased supplies and comfort items when treatment changed what her body could tolerate. They advocated, prayed, listened, encouraged, and showed up in whatever way was needed.
Sometimes sisterhood meant providing something tangible.
Sometimes it simply meant sitting beside their sister and reminding her:
You are not fighting this alone.
Through Griselda's journey, the sisters came to understand something that would ultimately shape their purpose: cancer affects far more than the body.
Doctors and medical teams were treating Griselda's disease, but another fight was taking place outside the treatment room—the loss of income, insurance challenges, unexpected expenses, fear, depression, emotional exhaustion, practical needs, and uncertainty about what tomorrow might bring.
Her sisters helped carry the other part of the fight.
From One Sister to a Greater Purpose
As others learned about Griselda's journey, individuals facing cancer began reaching out. Some needed encouragement. Others needed resources, practical assistance, prayer, or simply someone willing to listen and understand.
Griselda turned to her sisters once again, and once again, the sisters showed up.
What began as six sisters caring for one of their own became a calling to serve others. Beginning in 2021, the sisters started extending the same compassion, advocacy, practical assistance, faith, and support that had surrounded Griselda to other individuals and families affected by cancer.
Those acts of love and service ultimately led to the formal creation of the Sisters Esquivel Foundation in July 2023.
But cancer was not finished writing our family's story.
When Cancer Came Back to Our Family
Earlier this year (2026), cancer entered our family once again when our mother was diagnosed with advanced-stage cancer. We knew how to rally. We knew how to advocate. We knew how to organize care, ask questions, pray, and show up.
So that is exactly what we did.
As our mother's illness progressed, the seven of us surrounded her with around-the-clock care. Twenty-four hours a day, one of her daughters was there—comforting her, advocating for her, caring for her needs, praying with her, and making certain she was surrounded by the family she loved.
We hoped for more time. We prayed for more time. We did everything within our power to give her more time.
But cancer reminded us of one of its most painful truths:
Love cannot always change the outcome.
The disease progressed quickly, and the pain and physical toll became overwhelming for our mother. In May, we lost her.
Her passing was one of the hardest moments our family has ever faced.
Yet even in our grief, our mother's journey taught us something that forever changed the way we understand our work.
When we supported Griselda, we experienced what it meant to help someone fight cancer and come through the other side. With our mother, we learned what it meant to stand beside someone when the outcome we desperately wanted was no longer possible.
Both journeys required the same thing: showing up.
Cancer support isn't only about helping someone survive. It is also about helping someone feel heard, cared for, advocated for, comforted, and surrounded by love throughout the journey. It is about supporting families when they are exhausted, frightened, grieving, or simply don't know what to do next.
Sometimes we fight for healing.
Sometimes we fight for more time.
Sometimes we fight for comfort, dignity, and peace.
But we always show up.
Our mother's journey did not create the Sisters Esquivel Foundation. It deepened our understanding of why it must exist.
Why We Continue
Today, both journeys live at the heart of our mission.
We understand that fighting cancer isn't limited to chemotherapy, radiation, appointments, and medications. There is another part of the fight that happens outside the treatment room.
It can mean lost wages and insurance challenges. Transportation to treatment. Groceries when money is running short. Finding resources in an unfamiliar healthcare system. Fear about what comes next. Emotional exhaustion. Caregivers trying to hold a family together while watching someone they love suffer.
We have lived both the hope of survivorship and the heartbreak of loss.
Those experiences taught us that we cannot promise every family the outcome they desperately want. But we can promise something else:
We can show up.
The Sisters Esquivel Foundation serves women and men facing cancer and the families walking beside them. We provide compassionate guidance, practical resources, emotional and spiritual support, advocacy, and assistance through some of life's most difficult moments.
We are seven sisters who learned through our own family that sisterhood is more than a relationship.
It is an action.
It means standing beside someone when they are afraid. Helping carry what has become too heavy. Advocating when they don't know where to turn. Offering hope when hope feels distant. And sometimes, simply being present when there are no words that can make things better.
That is the sisterhood our family experienced.
That is the sisterhood we now extend to others.
Because no one should have to fight cancer alone.
