Please join us in sending love, prayer, good thoughts, 
and all the good juju you can muster to Chicana veterana Cecilia Preciado Burciaga. Â Querida Cecilia has been fighting off pneumonia, which led to the discovery of a cancerous malignancy in her left lung. Â She is currently getting good care at Stanford Hospital with various procedures to make her more comfortable while she undergoes chemotherapy.
Few women have been more influential and beloved in encouraging Chicana/os and Latina/os into higher education and beyond than la querida Cecilia.  Her daughter Rebeca  and son Toño write on their website that they read all of the various emails, letters, and notes to Cecilia that friends are sending, and that Cecilia enjoys them very much.  Right now, they are asking that you hold off on visits until she is more stable.  Rebeca and Toño write:
BUT . . . she really does love your cards, letters, emails and posts on this site. It is especially wonderful to read her messages about how she has helped others – she tends to shy away from compliments but she’s trapped ;o). What a blessing these have been for her spirit.
Today is our father’s birthday – he would have been 72.Â
Happy birthday Dad!
Thank you for watching over us.
Mom’s still fighting
. . . not that you’d surprised by this news . .Â
Please send any emails to cecilia.preciado.burciaga@gmail.com  For further info and regular updates, see the website at Caring Bridge.
Update:
Family friends Juana Guevara and Ay Nieva  also write, if you would like to offer further local support:
So many people have offered help that a few friends have brainstormed and talked to Cecilia’s two children about what might be best. So here are a couple of suggestions if you should decide to gift the family with a blessing:
- A gift card to Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Safeway, or an American Express gift card (that they could use anywhere) would be amazing. Gift cards will allow the family flexibility for everyday needs and a way to send family and friends to the store without worry about having cash to give them to pick up meals or other items that they may need for Cecilia. Email Juana at ojaijuann@gmail.com to help with this.
- If you prefer to help out with a meal for the family, Rebeca’s friend Amy will be coordinating meals for Thursdays and Sundays. A group of colleagues from Cecilia’s Stanford days are already doing Tuesday dinners for the family. Email Amy at nievafamily@comcast.net to help with this.
- Please continue prayers, thoughts and posts on the Caring Bridge site. When Rebeca reads them to Cecilia, her spirit soars. Â As Cecilia starts her second day of Chemo treatments, we would love to have everyone join in a “virtual” prayer circle at 9 PM each evening.
Thank you,
Juana Guevara and Amy Nieva
It’s 2013, almost half a year since the above Aug. 25th posting, and I’ve only just now learned that Cecilia and her children are facing this situation. I fell in love with this family when I wrote about Tony and Cecilia, while they were still at Stanford University, as a features writer for the Mercury News: Tony’s murals and books, the administration’s injustice against Cecilia, and then the poignant memorial interview with Cecilia, Rebeca and Toño. Many years later, Cecilia sent me a beautiful card, but I was going through a terrible time and waited too long to get back to her. When I did, I never heard back, but she was so wonderfully involved in so many projects that I understood. I’ve kept her card in my home office all this time and see it, with affection, every day. Cecilia and her family are in my heart.
Update: I’m grateful to have known & written about the great & lovely educator Cecilia Preciado Burciaga, now at peace with her husband, artist José Antonio Burciaga. As their kids, Toñio & Rebeca Burciaga said, “Tony came to pick up Cecilia.” All my love to this wonderful family!