Alhambra - The Gateway City

CITY SPOTLIGHT
Person of the Month for June:
Ruben Miramontes and Alhambra volunteers

By Dawn Miller

For the month of June, Kingdom Causes is spotlighting 10-year-old Ruben Miramontes and the community members of Alhambra who have rallied around his family, his mom Valerie Franco and Ruben’s 8-year-old sister and 16-year-old brother, to help the family in a difficult time. Ruben is afflicted with ALD a degenerative disease made famous by the movie, Lorenzo’s Oil.

Adrenoleukodystrophy, or ALD, is a genetically determined neurological disorder that affects 1 in every 17,900 boys worldwide. The presentation of symptoms occurs between the ages of 4 and 10, and affects the brain with demyelination. Ruben is losing his eyesight and also his hearing.
Ruben’s mom is a County employee and had already exhausted her sick and vacation leave. After being told that her son had only months to live, she has taken an extended leave of absence to care for him and spend as much time with him as possible. The family has been meeting all their bills through donations from friends and co-workers, but is expecting more doctors’ bills and funeral expenses.

On June 21st, members of the San Gabriel Valley YMCA, the Alhambra Firefighters, Alhambra Autokraft and the Alhambra community, including Councilman Gary Yamauchi, held a carwash at the San Gabriel Valley YMCA and Alhambra Autokraft to raise funds for Ruben’s medical care and his family’s ongoing financial need. They were assisted by Alhambra city Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, students from the Y and local schools and other members of the community. This was a great example of people in the community collaborating to make a difference for a family in need. They volunteers we are spotlighting did so much to “inspire”, “connect” and “mobilize” the community around a worthy cause. For their hard work, we want to spotlight all who came out to help Ruben’s family with the challenging months ahead!