Actress Hopes Portraying Princesses Will Save Her Father
Yessi Hernandez is a New York actress and journalist that has embodied some of our favorite princesses at countless children’s birthday parties since immigrating to the USA from Venezuela in 2015. She’s also the star of a viral video that may have made its way to your timeline in the last year.
For the last few months, Yess Hernandez has taken Cinderella, Elsa, Anna, and Rapunzel to the streets, sharing her art and talents with the children of New York by giving them a touch of fairytale magic in the midst of a global pandemic. She has two goals in mind, to put something beautiful out there for the children of New York, and to save her father’s life.
This Princess Effort started when Yessi Hernandez’s parents flew to New York from Venezuela for their daughter’s fairytale wedding and were subsequently stranded in the wake of a nation-wide lockdown. During quarantine her normally healthy father began skipping meals, complaining of stomach pain, and rapidly losing weight. Despite Covid precautions, Hernandez’s father did manage to see a physician and was diagnosed with acute diverticulitis. The treatment seemed to placate the symptoms but did little to improve his health.
Once the Venezuelan airways opened, Hernandez’s parents traveled home and his health took a turn for the worse. The new diagnosis was a perforation in his bladder. He was hospitalized and needed immediate medical care in order to survive.
“In the USA, patients can get medical attention whether they are insured or not. Patients can go to the hospital, get treated, sent home, and billed later. In Venezuela - no money in hand no treatment," Hernandez explains. Venezuela’s ongoing humanitarian crisis has rendered her parent’s insurance worthless.
“The country is collapsed. The humanitarian crisis we are facing is the worst we have ever lived through in our history,” explains Hernandez. “We always had insurance. My dad and my mom have insurance but because of Venezuela’s crisis the insurance that they have isn’t the national currency. Their insurance is no longer good”. This meant that all of her father’s medical expenses would have to come out of pocket.
Between Yessi and her mother, they were able to scrape together enough money to cover costs for the tests needed for a diagnosis and treatment plan but their woes were far from over. Hernandez’s father needed a colostomy to remove the abscess, and the cost for this was astronomical. Hernandez responded by creating a GoFundMe.
“The surgery was very risky and it was very traumatic. He called me to say goodbye. We didn’t know if he was going to make it”. Fortunately, Hernandez’s father did survive the surgery but would require follow-up surgery to close the colostomy. The two surgeries, multiple tests, and doctor’s visits created a medical balance of 45000 dollars and Hernandez began creating a plan to help cover the cost.
“When my dad was having the really critical emergency, I had no head for anything. I am an only child, so when this happened, I felt that it was my responsibility to help my family financially. I needed to do something that would get people’s attention." Not one for asking for help, she searched for a solution that would benefit the giver and the recipient.
“There’s something in society that tells you to be embarrassed when you ask for help. That you always have to be okay, you always have to be self-sufficient. I felt bad for not being able to provide for my family. I didn’t want to go out there and say ‘hey can you please donate’ I want to be out there giving something beautiful to the world. If people are interested and want to share it, or if they want to help us that’s gonna be amazing. But I also want to do something that’s beautiful. The process was connecting all the dots.”
The dots in question were the resources Hernandez had access to. She works for Blue Balloon, a children’s entertainment company with a warehouse full of elaborate princess costumes at her disposal, she’s an incredible actress and storyteller, and she loves her dad. This love fueled and inspired her to develop a campaign that would help save her dad's life.
"I have a very special connection with my dad. He used to read me bedtime stories all the time. It was special and something that connected us in a lovely way. I wanted to share our story.” What a story it is.
Yessi Hernandez attests that she has won “the father lottery”. In an article Hernandez wrote for lovewhatmatters.com, Hernandez describes her father as:
“The kind of guy who worked all day long and then he came home to spend time with me. He used to play dolls, watch movies, and read me fairytales until I fell asleep. He never complained, he was never too tired. That sense of devotion and commitment stayed with me forever". These memories inspired the Princess Effort.
“It was the idea of recreating the relationship I had with my dad and taking the resources I had and using my talents to put something out there.”. Just like that Hernandez and her husband began dressing up as fairytale characters and visiting playgrounds and parks throughout NYC both as a way to spread some COVID safe magic and to raise money for her father’s campaign. They keep the magic alive without revealing her father’s dilemma to the children by displaying a poster board with a turbo link to the GoFundMe campaign.
“Everybody is struggling. I wanted to do the Princess Effort to share something beautiful and bring joy. The kids have gone through such a rough year, of not going out, of not having anything so I thought it might be good to have a surprise.”
When parents scanned the code and read Yessi’s story they were touched and began to donate, and share the campaign online. Hernandez used her art to turn tragedy into hope and began spreading magic to those in the community while helping her family.
Hernandez describes the Princess campaign as life-changing. “This campaign helped me not only to save my dad but overcome so many fears I had before. Like being afraid of asking for help, being afraid of being vulnerable. It has been very life-changing for me.” Hernandez confesses.
When discussing the growing rise of GoFundMe campaigns being started as a means of growing medical expenses Hernandez remarks, “It’s very sad that most of GoFundMe campaigns are for healthcare. I don’t feel health should be a luxury, we’re all entitled to be healthy. We’re all entitled to medical attention. I think it’s sad that so many people have to go through this”.
The princess campaign has raised 15,000 dollars thus far, which is still a far cry from the 45,000 dollar goal. Hernandez is motivated and determined to spread some princess magic, and raise awareness of the healthcare crisis while helping provide financial support to the father she loves.
The GoFundMe campaign is linked at the bottom of this article. Please consider making a donation and sharing her story and campaign.