Destinee Coronado, 17, poses for a photograph at her home in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, Oct. 2, 2025. At just 10 years old, Coronado was diagnosed with stage 3 ovarian cancer. Wish Book for Coronado with Shop With a Cop Silicon Valley. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
Destinee Coronado was just 10 years old when her parents noticed something seemed terribly wrong: The normally happy, bubbly girl was sprawled across a set of chairs instead of joining the dance floor at a wedding with her family.
Her parents left the wedding early to take her to a hospital. There, doctors discovered a football-sized tumor on her ovary. She was diagnosed with stage three ovarian cancer and spent the next five months undergoing chemotherapy treatment. Today, she’s 18 years old, recovered from her illness and starting her first year of college at San Jose State University.
The medical bills drained her parents’ bank accounts — and possibly would have forced them to sell their condo — had it not been for the intervention of Shop with a Cop Silicon Valley Foundation, a local nonprofit that runs an annual holiday shopping spree for children in need. After Coronado’s diagnosis, Darrell and Alicia Cortez, founder/executive director and secretary, respectively, stepped up to launch a fundraiser for the family that collected $10,000 – ensuring that they kept a roof over their heads, had food on their table and were not worried about their bills as their daughter underwent treatment.
“The family was not financially set, but at least they knew that they didn’t have to worry about that for a little while,” said Alicia Cortez.
Seven years later, Shop with a Cop Silicon Valley Foundation is stepping up to help the family again – this time to raise the funds for Coronado to attend college. Staff are hoping to raise $15,000 from Wish Book to allow them to help pay those costs.
“I was very driven by the support and the love that they had given to me when I was sick, even though I didn’t really recognize that at the time,” Coronado said. “They didn’t really have to do anything for me, but they just wanted to help me.”
“Given that they’ve already helped my family and I so much, I was surprised that they even offered (to help again),” Coronado added.
Shop with a Cop Silicon Valley Foundation was founded in 2008 as Darrell Cortez was preparing to retire from his job as an officer with the San Jose Police Department, Alicia Cortez said. He had the idea of creating an organization based on the model of the national Shop with a Cop foundation that would provide children with a shopping spree during the holiday season, which he continues to lead as executive director as the program enters its 18th year.
The organization began with an inaugural annual shopping trip, which paired 10 kids with five uniformed officers to shop for holiday toys. Today, the program serves 180 third-graders from three elementary schools who complete a 10-week reading program. The organization also distributes backpacks filled with school supplies at the beginning of the school year.
Coronado’s family first crossed paths with the nonprofit when her mother Miriam Villanueva began volunteering around 2015. In a later year, Coronado and her younger brother were beneficiaries of the shopping spree.
After Coronado’s diagnosis, she had surgery to remove the tumor and her left ovary, then had to undergo five months of chemotherapy – missing half of her fifth-grade school year.
“I didn’t know what cancer was, I didn’t know what a tumor was, I didn’t know anything – I had no clue,” she said. “I was just scared. … I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
Coronado’s mother left her job to care for her full time, leaving her dad, Jovani Villanueva, as the sole breadwinner for the family.
“I had to divide myself — going to work, going to the hospital and then coming home,” he said, noting that Shop with a Cop Silicon Valley Foundation’s fundraiser probably kept the family in their home in San Jose. “I was trying to be as strong as much I could without breaking, but it was hard.”
Missing half of fifth grade was the root of Coronado’s academic insecurity and contributed to her conviction to pursue higher education, she said, but she worried about financially burdening her parents with the cost of school. The cost of her medical treatment drained not only the fundraiser money, but also the entirety of her family’s savings, Jovani Villanueva said.
“I held myself back from reaching a little further than I think I could have….just because I didn’t want to put the financial burden on my parents,” Coronado said. “My end goal is to prove myself wrong just because I never really had faith in myself academically.”
But when Shop with a Cop Silicon Valley Foundation offered to raise money to help pay for school, it gave her “a confidence boost,” she said. Wish Book donations to the nonprofit will go toward paying for Coronado’s tuition, plus materials, transportation and incidental costs.
“We felt blessed and grateful,” Jovani Villanueva said. “The moment that we were told that they were raising this money, my wife and I got on our knees in our bedroom and we prayed. We’re very happy, we’re very blessed. And, for sure, it took off a lot of weight off our shoulders.”
Coronado began her first semester at San Jose State University in August, taking classes in child development, English, history, statistics and public speaking. She is pursuing a degree in child and adolescent development with the goal of becoming a teacher so she can help address what she described as a “lack of resources for children” and give back to the community.
“(My interest) started when I was in the hospital and I would see all the other kids on my level,” she said. “The counselors and emotional therapists they had on the floor that would try to come in and make our day with … the little energy that they had and all the fun materials. I think it just kind of led me to want to give that to future generations.”
Further down the road, she wants to start a nonprofit of her own to help children – inspired by the work of Darrell and Alicia Cortez, she said.
“Alicia and Darrell, they’re such beautiful human beings that I know that they also wanted to start something bigger, and they did,” Coronado said. “I think that I also have it in me to do that.”
ABOUT WISH BOOK
Wish Book is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operated by The Mercury News. Since 1983, Wish Book has been producing series of stories during the holiday season that highlight the wishes of those in need and invite readers to help fulfill them.
WISH
Donations to Shop with a Cop Foundation will help pay for Destinee Coronado’s college tuition and fees, materials, transportation, living expenses and incidental costs. Goal: $15,000 .
HOW TO GIVE
Donate at wishbook.mercurynews.com/donate or mail in this form.
ONLINE EXTRA
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