Texas Border Business
October 1, Monica’s Angels released a Special Edition Cristina love & light bracelet for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The organization originally formed in 1998 to help McAllen Memorial High School senior Monica Montanaro and her family while Monica was being treated for osteosarcoma, In May of 2000, at the age of 19, Monica succumbed to the disease. For several years following her passing, McAllen jewelry designer Rosemary Trevino continued to design an annual “Monica” angel pin. Profits from the pin’s sale were used to help other families in the Rio Grande Valley whose children were undergoing treatment for cancer. This was done to fulfill Monica’s wish.
In June of this year, doctors in Houston diagnosed one of the original Angels in the group, Cristina Guerra Seal, 38, with breast cancer. A small group of the original Angels decided to re-start the organization to help Cristina get through chemotherapy treatments and her impending surgery.
Brownsville jewelry designer and owner of Bead Craftworks Andrea Escobar designed an original Monica’s Angels’ Cristina bracelet, which was released August 22 for National Be An Angel Day. The four most popular colors of the bracelet are currently available at Leona, a boutique in McAllen, and on the store’s website at www.leona.style.
The Cristina bracelet comes with either an angel charm or two angel-wing charms. When designing the bracelet, Escobar said she chose the double wings so one wing would represent Montanaro, our angel in heaven, and the other, Seal, our angel here on earth. The limited Special Edition Cristina bracelet will only be available for the month of October and only until they sell out. Escobar designed this Cristina bracelet with pink cats-eye beads to represent love and white opalite beads to represent the light.
One of Seal’s best friends since childhood, Erica Villarreal Ellis, also a McAllen Memorial graduate, went through treatment for breast cancer in 2019. Since Seal’s diagnosis, Ellis has been a light for her, leading the way. Seal wants to be that light for other women diagnosed with breast cancer, starting a “Crissy’s Crusade” Facebook page for that purpose. She has also become an outspoken advocate for women to take charge of their health, not to miss getting an annual mammogram, and, if diagnosed with breast cancer, to address their emotional well-being.
“The mental side of it is very heavy,” Seal said. “Seek whatever help you need. I have a very supportive husband and a strong support system. They understand that I don’t want to be a cancer patient all the time. I want to be a wife, a mother, a daughter, and a friend.” Seal recommends yoga, journaling, meditation, therapy, and just taking the time to laugh and have fun.
The Special Edition Monica’s Angels’ Cristina love and light bracelet sells for $25. Leona is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. All profits from the sale of this love and light bracelet, as well as the original Cristina bracelet, will go to Seal, who will use a portion of the funds to help others going through treatment for breast cancer. To learn more about Monica’s Angels and the Cristina bracelet, contact Chris Ardis at cardis1022@aol.com.
