Reyna’s Tacos to return to help child with rare disease — what you can do

SAN ANGELO, Texas (Concho Valley Homepage) — The family of a 4-year-old San Angelo girl diagnosed with a rare neurological disease is raising funds to pay for a trip to an international conference. Here’s how you can help — and walk away with a plate of tacos cooked by a long-retired community favorite, too.

A family’s fight against Huntington’s disease

Ariahella Gloria is currently battling juvenile Huntington’s disease, a “rare, inherited disease that causes the progressive breakdown (degeneration) of nerve cells in the brain,” according to Mayo Clinic. Even rarer to be found in children, the disease can cause a variety of disorders that inhibit a person’s ability to move, think and communicate, among other faculties.

While Ari started life out strong, signs of the disease would begin appearing around the ages of 2 and 3, namely a speech delay. Even though it was early in Ari’s life, Salazar was already beginning to worry about her child’s condition.

“I did start to notice Ari not talking about when she was 2,” Natalie Salazar, Ari’s mother, said. “It was just always in my head, ‘I just pray she doesn’t have it.'”

Ari’s family would take her to get tested when she was 4 after multiple scans done by a neurologist in Houston strongly indicated that she had an early onset form of the disorder. After months of waiting, Salazar and Gloria received confirmation that Ari had Huntington’s disease.

“It was very overwhelming,” Salazar said. “I already expected it, but I was still just overwhelmed. I didn’t know what to do.”

Ari isn’t the first child in the family to have Huntington’s disease. Khloe Salazar-Gloria was born to the pair just a few years before Ari and was diagnosed with the disorder when she was 4 years old. She would live a life full of love and care before passing away at the age of 7 on April 17, 2023.

“Even though I’ve gone through this already, to go through it again … this disease is just so unknown, and it feels like we’re the guinea pigs of this disease,” Salazar said.

In recent years, Ari has begun to show behaviors that Khloe exhibited in life while also worsening in other areas.

“Over this past year, I have seen Ari decline even more, just more clumsiness, kind of the same thing I saw with Khloe,” Salazar said. “Khloe was at least verbal and able to talk and make those milestones. Ari cannot talk, she’s nonverbal.”

Ari recently celebrated her fourth birthday on April 14, just three days before the one-year anniversary of Khloe’s passing. Carrying their memories of Khloe with them, Salazar and Gloria are doing their best to pour as much love and care into Ari.

“I know my time is limited,” Salazar said. “We just want to enjoy all of this time that we do have with her. We’re just trying to enjoy every moment with her.”

Reviving Reyna’s

Salazar’s family has held several fundraisers for both of their daughters over the years, occasionally partnering with local businesses to facilitate them. But when Reyna’s Tacos offered to participate in a fundraiser shortly after Khloe’s passing, Salazar and Gloria weren’t in a position to take them up on it.

“We were so appreciative at that time, but I had just lost my daughter,” Salazar said. “We didn’t really have time to do a fundraiser.”

The Reyna family indefinitely retired their taco shop on Oct. 3, 2023, citing being unable to afford update costs to keep their business aligned with the City of San Angelo’s restaurant codes as well as a desire to spend more time with family as their driving reasons for the closure.

With Reyna’s Tacos having been gone for months now, one might think that their previous offer to help in a fundraiser would have closed with the establishment. You’d be wrong if you did, however.

“It’s my honor to help a family in need going through the worst of circumstances,” Anna Reyna, one former owners of Reyna’s Tacos, said in a Facebook post. “Looks like we will resurrect Reyna’s Tacos for a few hours to send a blessing to a family that is experiencing the unthinkable.”

With Reyna’s Tacos coming back from retirement, the family’s goal of taking Ari to Help 4 HD International‘s conference at the end of April to learn more about her condition is now within their grasp.

“I’m just so incredibly grateful for them just wanting to help us in a time of need,” Salazar said. “Everyone loves Reyna’s, and to have it resurrected for a day? That’s awesome.”

The fundraiser with Reyna’s Tacos will take place on Thursday, April 18, at 334 W. Concho Ave. From 4 p.m. to 7 p.m., people can purchase a plate of the returning restaurant’s famous tacos for $12.

“It’s overwhelming, and I feel so much gratitude when people donate,” Salazar said. “I just want to say how thankful I am for this community.”

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