An eighth grade student at Edcouch-Elsa ISD is battling a brain tumor, and the Delta Area stepped up to help her family.

Miranda Lopez, 15, has been battling the tumor since she was 4-months-old. The tumor left her legally blind.

Miranda received chemotherapy in 2018 and a month and a half of radiation in 2021. Last week, her mother noticed she wasn't looking well.

"She was throwing up, she was looking sick," Rolando Perez, Miranda's father, said.

Miranda’s doctors told the family that the tumor had grown, and Miranda needed to be flown to Houston immediately for treatment.

Perez is the family's lone breadwinner. He said he's had to take time off work to drive back and forth from the Rio Grande Valley to Houston to care for Miranda.

Edcouch-Elsa ISD and Lopez’s former employers organized fundraisers to help cover the family's travel expenses. The high school's BBQ club made burgers on Wednesday to raise money.

"There's no better feeling than community love," Edcouch-Elsa ISD Trustee Ashley Vasquez said.

Isidro Jinez, a student in the district’s BBQ club, has never met Miranda but said he wanted to help. 

"She's just a little girl, she's just starting her life, she still has things to do, things she wants to do," Jinez said. “Her family is just going through a lot... We’re trying to help her out, fight for her.”

Students in the district's firefighting class packed bags for the fundraiser. 

"We are like a community and we love to help," Edcouch-Elsa ISD student Roxanne Gonzalez said.

Rolando described his daughter as brave and special.

"She loves to sing and she's in mariachi and she plays guitar," Perez said. “Miranda is a very special girl. And I tell mija, ‘we're all here for you to pray for you — the whole community.’"

 Surgeons in Houston took out most of Miranda’s tumor earlier this week. Doctors said they can’t remove the entire tumor without risking Miranda’s hearing.

Those hoping to donate to Miranda’s family are urged to contact Rolando Perez at 956-560-9260.

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