After losing several family members to cancer, Dolores Castañeda created a mural at 26th Street and Drake Avenue. Over 50 names honor residents lost to cancer and encourage early screenings.
On Drake Avenue, Dolores Castañeda stands in front of a bright blue mural and looks up at the painted names beneath the words: “En Memoria a las Víctimas de Cáncer.”
Many of the names belong to people she knew in Little Village—siblings of people she went to church with, parents of coworkers, and familiar faces from the neighborhood. Her brother’s name, José Trinidad Vera Lule, is the first listed on the mural’s beige scroll.
After Vera Lule died from stage four colon cancer in December 2025 at age 62, Castañeda wanted a way to honor not only him, but the many families in Little Village carrying the same grief.
More than 50 names of residents lost to cancer were submitted for the mural, turning the wall at 26th Street and Drake Avenue into both a memorial and a call for early cancer screenings.
Castañeda described her brother as “the light of the house,” someone who loved cooking and made sure the family gathered every Sunday. José is one of several family members she has lost to cancer, including her mother, who died of pancreatic cancer.
“Cancer is preventable if it is caught in time,” Castañeda said. “If you have symptoms, even if you are busy, people have to make time.”
Stories like Castañeda’s are common in Latino communities, where barriers to preventive care can delay diagnoses. In 2022, cancer was one of the leading causes of death among Latinos in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. Patients are often diagnosed later because of barriers such as lack of insurance, language access, and limited preventive care.
Castañeda knows those barriers both personally and professionally.
A longtime Little Village resident and faith-based organizer, Castañeda works as a research assistant focused on community health outreach, helping address economic and social barriers in Black and Latino neighborhoods. Yamile Molina, who leads cancer prevention and outreach efforts at UI Health, helped support the mural project financially and staffed a Spanish-language resource table during the April 18 unveiling.
Under white tents along Drake Avenue, neighbors crowded the sidewalk carrying free tacos from Tacos El Muñeco and drinks from Cafe La Tea. A light buzz of conversation filled the block as people stopped to read the names already painted on the wall and lined up to submit more.
Against the mural, a blue UI Health information table held pamphlets, flyers and small giveaways for cancer prevention outreach.
Miguel Negrete, wearing a bright pink shirt that read “Have Faith! We’re in this together,” stood beside the mural’s tree, his favorite section of the wall, where each ribbon represents a different type of cancer.
Negrete said his father died from stage four pancreatic cancer after years of putting off doctor visits while working long hours to support his family.
“He would wake up at three in the morning, run the food truck and then go straight to chemo,” Negrete said. “You can’t support your family if you’re sick.”
He said barriers such as machismo, which often discourages men from talking about pain or seeking medical help, along with lack of insurance and fear surrounding immigration enforcement, keep many Latino men from getting care early.
Nearby, Mayra Avila leaned over a sign-up sheet and wrote her sister’s name in pen: Erica Avila.
Her sister, a registered nurse who grew up in Little Village, died of stomach cancer nearly two years ago.
“I feel like they’re being recognized in Little Village,” Avila said. “It shows the value of everybody here.”
After seeing the mural unveiling on social media, Tomas Daniel Cortez said he knew he wanted to visit in person. A week later, while walking his dog down Drake Avenue, he stopped when he saw Cortina still adding names to the wall.
Cortez asked for his grandmother and uncle to be included after seeing the mural go up. Both lived and worked in Little Village for most of their lives.
Cortina paints monarch butterflies for the “En Memoria a las Víctimas de Cáncer” mural at 26th Street and Drake Avenue on Feb. 21, 2026, in Little Village. | Araceli Ramirez/15 West
To him, the Virgen de Guadalupe, monarch butterflies, and nopales painted across the wall made the mural feel unmistakably like home.
“To have their names on the wall, it feels nice to, in a way, bring them home,” Cortez said.
As people pass by and traffic moves toward 26th Street, the mural continues to grow with each new name added to the wall.
Castañeda said the list of names for the mural remains open.
