Brandy Torrez with her three children — Destiny, 16, Robbie, 12, and Paul, 9 — and husband, Robert.
Torrez’s hair loss is typical of cancer treatment.
Photos provided
By April Klimley
Cancer is especially tragic when it happens to someone young such as Brandy Torrez. The 35-year-old mother of three is a style expert at Angela Moore in Manalapan’s Plaza del Mar and on Worth Avenue in Palm Beach. In late November, she was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia — acute lymphatic leukemia. The condition is treatable, but made doubly challenging because Torrez also has a chromosome abnormality.
“When I got sick, it all came out of the blue,” says Torrez. “It’s been hard on my family, too. I haven’t been able to see them that much.”
She was allowed to go home from the hospital for Christmas. But now she is back undergoing several rounds of chemotherapy. Once her cancer is in remission and a donor is found, she will go to the Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa for a stem cell transplant.
All this has not put a damper on Torrez’s fighting spirit, or “moxie,” as one of her friends put it.
But it has put a strain on the family finances for Torrez, her three children — Destiny, 16, Robbie, 12, and Paul, 9 — and her husband, Robert, who is self-employed in the pool cleaning business. “We are just scraping by,” she admits, due to the loss of her income.
Enter Torrez’s friends and colleagues — who are strong supporters of Torrez and have taken action to help. Earlier this year Jewelry Artisans, the store next to where Torrez has been working, announced that it will hold a raffle Feb. 1-27 for a pair of 14-karat gold earrings to raise money for the family’s living expenses. The earrings were custom-designed by the store’s owner, Pedro Maldonado, a fourth-generation master jeweler. Tickets cost $45 each or three for $125. A winner will be chosen at random on Feb. 27.
Another friend, Annie Davis of Palm Beach Travel, will make a $250 donation every time a client books a Lindblad-National Geographic travel excursion through her office this year. The travel agency sold gift cards during the holidays to raise money for Christmas gifts for the Torrez children.
“She is really incredible,” Davis says about Torrez. “She is a generous, fun, creative personality. Lots of moxie.” Davis also mentions that Torrez has a hidden talent. “She is our cupcake designer,” Davis says. Torrez created customized cupcakes (margarita and even pretzel-themed) for various travel agency events. “Her imagination for design is amazing,” Davis says.
People are pulling for Brandy to get through this ordeal and resume her job at Angela Moore (which is being held for her by the manager) and go back to regular family life that she loves so much.
To help Torrez meet this challenge, go to “Brandy’s Fight Against Leukemia” GoFundMe page at www.gofundme.com/r2chshks; contribute to the raffle; or book a Lindblad trip at Palm Beach Travel.
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