Cristina Gomez Memorial Fund

A third-generation “Tampeña”, Cristina Isabel Gomez was born in Tampa, Florida, on February 20th, 1994. She arrived into the world with the same zest for life that she continued to exhibit through her 30-year journey: eyes wide open, eagerly taking in all that the world had to offer, and no screaming or tears.  From her earliest days she loved to be surrounded by people. She accumulated friends and an ever-growing community while she navigated her beloved Christ the King School, graduating valedictorian, and then moved on to excel at The Academy of the Holy Names for high school, followed by the prestigious McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia.

After graduating with her Bachelor of Science, Cristina went on to complete the UVA Master of Science in Accounting program in 2017; it was there where she met the love of her life and future husband Patrick James, whom she married in November 2021. Unfortunately, a few months later she began experiencing muscle weakness and other symptoms that she initially threw off as stress. While MRIs confirmed the existence of a spinal lesion, a diagnosis eluded her until she had a biopsy in August of 2022.   Even when she was diagnosed with a “Diffuse Midline Glioma”, a rare spinal cancer that we were told had no cure or even standard treatment, she refused to be anything but grateful.

Cristina entered into a cutting-edge clinical trial at Stanford’s Lucille Packard’s Children’s Hospital, where she underwent CAR-T Cell Therapy. She knew, going into the trial, that it may not save her but might pave the way for others to be cured.  She was very much aware that her type of cancer afflicts mostly children and young adults.  Although the CAR-T therapy reduced her tumor tremendously, it also induced paralysis in her limbs, and she returned to Tampa as a quadriplegic, to live in her parents’ home with her husband so she would be surrounded by all who loved her.

Cristina refused to let the cancer and its ensuing disabilities define her. To us who knew her, she left the world a better place for having been a part of it.  Her life, though cut short, impacted many: from her family and close friends to those she babysat, to those she mentored, to those she took on her foodie adventures, to the colleagues that worked long nights with her during tax season, and even the nurses and other healthcare professionals she encountered during her cancer journey.  We want her Memorial Fund to continue to fulfill her life mission of joy and caring by (i) spreading awareness for DMG/DIPG so that more research funds can be raised and symptoms more readily recognized, (ii) supporting existing or promising new research, (iii) providing patients and caregivers fighting the same battle with an on-line platform and community that facilitates access to information on symptoms, treatments and patient experiences, and (iv) giving back to the communities she so loved, to support others that might wish to follow her path as a student and lover of life.

She will be truly missed but her legacy will survive.

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