GROVES, Texas — A Port Neches-Groves High school senior is reaching out to the community for help raising money to support his mother's cancer battle.
His mother, Sasikala Guntamukkala, was diagnosed with Stage 4 breast cancer in 2021 and sadly, it has spread. She first started showing symptoms in 2020.
"Displayed some sort of symptoms back in 2020 and that was the COVID time. She was pretty scared about the situation. Back in 2020, the hospitals were really crazy," said her nephew Laxman Kumar Sigatapu.
She was rushed to MD Anderson in Houston on September, 6, 2023.
"Yesterday, we had a brief meeting with the doctors and they said 'There's nothing we can do because the cancer is too advanced in her lungs,'" said her son Chaitanya Sigatupu
Chaitanya won't leave his mom's side during her battle.
"I'm praying for a miracle hoping they can do something. Like, if she's like stabilized but if not I'm prepared. For her to stay in hospice until," Chaitanya said.
He's not the only family member making tough sacrifices. Chaitanya is trying to raise funds because his dad is on a leave of absence from work to care for his mother and is out of vacation days.
Chaitanya is trying to help his parents make ends meet and needs all the support he can get. He started a GOFUNDME campaign with help from his cousin and it has already raised more than $6,000 of the $75,000 goal.
"The main goal of this GoFundMe is not to make money or to make rich of it or something. It's just to get rid of the thought in my uncle's head that he's taking care of my aunt all the time. He's concerned about her medicals piling up and he's not able to sleep well at night," Laxman said.
Right now, Chaitanya is taking time off from school to help care for his mom whose breast cancer has spread to her lungs.
"It's pretty hard but, I'm just trying to help out both my parents, trying to like keep them just calm, I guess. Trying not to make my dad cry and you know my mom is pretty drowsy. But right now I'm just staying with my mom as much as I can and trying to support her, make sure she's relaxed," Chaitanya said.
While PNG students and teachers are taking care of his classes, it's now time for the community to take care of him.
You can donate to the family at their GOFUNDME.
GET NEWS & WEATHER ALERTS | Download the 12News App to your mobile device
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.