GoFundMe account set up to help ailing civil rights activist
A longtime Houston activist who spent decades championing the rights of women, minorities and immigrants is now fighting a battle against cancer, prompting community supporters to open a GoFundMe account to raise money for her medical treatment.
Maria Jimenez, 68, who the city of Houston designated as the “Community Activist” of the year in 2010, was diagnosed in January of last year with peritoneal cancer and later declared in remission after undergoing chemotherapy and surgery at MD Anderson Cancer Center.
“Unfortunately, they found that the cancer is back, in the lung,” said Jimenez at a small dinner with a handful of friends on Monday for “my last meal at a restaurant before beginning the treatment.” She was to begin treatment again Wednesday.
Funds from the online Maria Jimenez fundraiser on GoFundMe will go toward costs not covered by her health insurance from her parttime job.
“When you have this type of disease you have to put yourself in the hands of the medical staff who are the ones with scientific knowledge to trace a path forward,” said Jimenez. “What remains for me is to walk it with the hope of winning this war again.”
Jimenez shared her views on feminism in a Latino context as one of the authors in the book “Feminist Family Values Forum” with high profile activists Gloria Steinem, Angela Davis and Mililani Trask, based on their speeches at an event on Mother’s Day of 1996.
The activist has been a leader in researching and speaking out on issues concerning voting rights, the treatment of immigrants by the U.S. Border Patrol and amnesty for thousands of Texas residents attempting to qualify for a 1986 immigration reform law.