After losing two brothers to the same terminal illness that now affects her teenage son, Texas mother Angelina Olivera says it is her faith in God that gives her the strength to face each new day.

Olivera’s life has been marked by Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a rare genetic disease that causes progressive muscle weakness and eventually affects the heart and lungs. She watched her brothers, Angelo and Antonio, battle the disease before they died at ages 20 and 22. Today, she serves as the full-time caregiver for her 14-year-old son, Ryu, who was diagnosed with the same condition.

Looking back, Olivera admits she once wrestled with God over why her family had been asked to endure such heartbreak for a third time.

“I used to ask God, ‘Why me? Why are You having me do this again?'” she recalled. But over time, she sensed the Lord asking a different question: “But why not you?”

That shift in perspective transformed the way she approaches each day.

“When I hear that,” she said, “I just remember every single day I get up to put on the full armor of God, and I’m able to face the day.”

Olivera told The Christian Post that her relationship with Christ is the foundation of everything she does.

“My relationship with the Lord is the firm foundation I set my life upon,” she said. “It’s what has given me the strength and the power and the might to be able to raise my son and care for him the way I do, but also to try and lift other rare disease families up as well.”

Her years helping care for her brothers alongside her mother prepared her for the difficult road ahead, even though she never imagined she would one day walk it again with her own child.

“God allowed that to happen because He was shaping and forming this situation because He knew what my journey was going to be,” she said. “When my son was diagnosed, it was a heartbreak, but it was like, ‘I got this. I know what to do.'”

Ryu lost the ability to walk when he was just 10 years old and now uses a wheelchair full-time. Olivera said one of the hardest parts of caregiving is living with what she calls “anticipatory grief.”

“One of the things that really is a hard pill to swallow every day is that I know the outcome,” she said. “I’ve seen it happen twice.”

Despite those challenges, she begins every morning with prayer and a devotional.

“I have to start every morning with a daily devotion because it sets the tone for the day,” she explained. “Because every single day with a child with a rare disease, it can feel like a battle.”

In addition to caring for Ryu, Olivera has become a passionate advocate for families affected by Duchenne muscular dystrophy. She has urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to expand access to gene therapy treatments for boys who, like her son, are no longer able to walk.

She has even invited FDA leaders to visit her home and experience firsthand the daily realities of caring for a child with the disease.

Through it all, Olivera says one of her greatest sources of motivation has come from Ryu himself.

“Mom, you have to do this for me,” he told her. “You have to do this for other little boys like me. And thank you, Mom, for giving me a fighting chance.”

Even as she walks a road marked by loss, uncertainty, and sacrifice, Olivera continues to trust that God is using her story to encourage others facing impossible circumstances.