Financial Hardship Narrative Statement
Introduction & Family Background
My name is Thiago Rossi. I am a Flight Attendant with American Airlines, Employee #808978, based at DFW, with nine years of dedicated service. I am writing this statement to document the extraordinary financial hardship my family has endured since early 2023, which has reached a critical breaking point in 2025–2026.
I am the sole financial provider for my entire family. My mother, Sonia Dalva Rossi, is a cancer survivor who has undergone more than 13 surgeries and is physically unable to work. My father, Lazaro Jesus Rossi, suffers from a severe spinal injury that also prevents him from working. Both parents are now full-time caregivers for my sister in Brazil.
My Sister's Medical Crisis
In early 2023, my sister Talita Rossi was diagnosed with breast cancer in Brazil. She underwent a bilateral (double) mastectomy, followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy. The treatment left her unable to live independently, and she moved back to our family home in Santa Barbara D'Oeste, Sao Paulo.
By late 2025, our worst fears were confirmed. A PET/CT scan revealed that the cancer had metastasized to bones throughout her body — her skull, spine (T8, T12, L1, L2, L3), pelvis, hips, and both femurs. Dr. Fernando Maluf at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein confirmed the disease is terminal. There is no cure. Talita has partially lost her ability to walk, and her treatment is now exclusively palliative.
On March 13, 2026, Dra. Beatriz Viesser Miyamura (CRM/SP 184.766) of Hospital Einstein issued a formal medical certificate confirming Talita is under active oncologic treatment and requires constant care.
"Watching someone you love face a terminal diagnosis while being 5,000 miles away, knowing that every dollar you earn might mean the difference between comfort and suffering — it changes you."
Exhaustion of All Financial Resources
This crisis has completely devastated our family's financial stability. Before seeking external assistance, we exhausted every internal resource available to us.
Depletion of Family Credit
My sister and my parents have maxed out almost all of their available credit cards to cover survival, medical, and caregiving expenses. Their accounts, including Barclays AAdvantage Aviator and Chase cards, are severely delinquent. The family's internal financial capacity is entirely depleted, leaving me as the sole source of liquidity.
The "Double Burden" of Healthcare
I have been personally paying the premiums for Talita's health insurance. However, the insurance company is refusing to cover many of her critical, life-sustaining treatments. As a result, we are suffering a double financial burden: paying for the insurance itself, while simultaneously being forced to pay for her actual treatments out-of-pocket using credit cards (which are now maxed out) and the cash I send.
Direct Financial Support ($18,107+)
Over the past 12 months alone, I have transferred $18,107.19 USD directly to my mother via 38 Zelle transactions to fund these uncovered treatments, palliative care, medications, and home adaptation.
Housing Hardship & Rent Shortfall
The financial drain of supporting my family in Brazil has severely compromised my ability to maintain my own basic living infrastructure in the United States. I rent a room from the Shouhed family in Tarzana, CA. My ideal rent is $1,000/month. However, due to the crisis, I have only been able to pay $6,011 over the past year, creating a documented rent shortfall of nearly $6,000. I also maintain a secondary room in Dallas (~$300/month) which is an absolute necessity to maintain my employment.
Medical and Mental Health Costs
The emotional toll of this terminal diagnosis has necessitated professional psychological support. I have paid out-of-pocket for 8 therapy sessions for my father, 6 sessions for my mother, and multiple sessions for myself — approximately $2,100 in total — just to manage the severe trauma of this crisis.
Transnational Logistics
Managing this crisis internationally incurs constant hidden costs, including international transaction fees, T-Mobile bills averaging $266/month to stay connected with doctors, and over $500 in in-flight Wi-Fi purchases just so I can coordinate care while working.
Home Adaptation Costs
Starting in early 2025, we had to urgently adapt our family home to accommodate Talita's deteriorating physical condition. I funded these adaptations directly:
- Converted a ground-floor storage room into an accessible bedroom (no stairs)
- Constructed an accessible master suite bathroom within the converted bedroom
- Replaced flooring and tiles for safety and hygiene
- Installed ramps and removed internal barriers for wheelchair access
- Upgraded electrical and plumbing for medical equipment
Assistance Requested
I am humbly requesting emergency financial assistance to:
- 1.Provide partial income replacement during my unpaid leave of absence so I can care for my sister without losing my own housing.
- 2.Cover the ongoing costs of Talita's palliative medications, specialized nutrition, and in-home medical visits.
- 3.Purchase necessary durable medical equipment (hospital bed, mobility aids).
- 4.Help stabilize my parents' catastrophic debt situation so they can focus entirely on Talita's end-of-life care.
"Every transfer I've made — every dollar sent to Brazil — was an act of love and desperation. My family has nothing left. Their credit is destroyed, my savings are gone, and I cannot even afford my own rent. But I would do it all again, because Talita deserves dignity and the presence of her family in her final chapter."
— Thiago Rossi
Thiago Rossi
AA Flight Attendant | EMP# 808978
Base: Dallas/Fort Worth (DFW)
(310) 756-9342 | [email protected]
Date: ___/___/______
Signature: _________________________________________