Ana Rodriguez hasn’t seen her grandmother in five years.

Now, the Montgomery City resident is putting together a fundraiser that would help her have that long-awaited meeting with her loved one.

In the last week of November, Rodriguez started the Glam On The Go Fundraiser to raise money to make a 530-mile trip to Lansing, Mich., to see her grandmother, who will undergo a life-threatening high risk surgery to unblock an artery. The fundraiser will give participants a chance to win one of three gift certificates for a full glam makeup session by Rodriguez, who is a freelance makeup artist.

Rodriguez said her grandmother, whose name is Barbara, liked the idea.

“She thought it was very cool,” Rodriguez said. “She told her doctor about it. Her doctor is supportive of it and everything. He’s hoping that I can get out there as well to help take care of her because she doesn’t have a ride home from surgery.”

The cost is $5 for one entry and $8 for two entries. The gift certificates are valid from Dec. 30, 2024-Dec. 30, 2025. There will be an online drawing at 5 p.m. on Christmas Eve. The winner will be announced on Rodriguez’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/catoverlord718).

“I thought that these would also make great gifts for sisters, daughters, mothers, aunts or anybody who might enjoy it even if people don’t want it specifically for themselves,” Rodriguez said. “It’s a good gift.”

Rodriguez said her grandmother was told by doctors that during the surgery they have to manually go into the artery and remove the blockage.

“They told her it’s very high risk because it’s a small space to work in and if they tear it at all, she’ll bleed out,” Rodriguez said. “It’s not only high risk, but they told her she’s going to have trouble recovering from it afterwards. She doesn’t have any other grandchildren nearby. She doesn’t have any family members up there. Her husband is at the nursing home.”

Rodriguez said her grandmother is the only living relative she has, so it is very important to see her in-person as soon as possible.

“I’m hoping that I can go up and be there with her when she goes into surgery,” said Rodriguez, who has a two-year-old son named Oliver. “If anything were to happen to her during the surgery and there was a complication, I want her to at least feel comfortable knowing that she is not there all alone. I also want her to feel like she has a support system with her when she gets out of surgery because I don’t want her to have to deal with her by herself.”

Rodriguez hasn’t seen her grandmother in person since she moved to Montgomery City in 2019.

“Right after I moved, she moved with her husband’s family in Michigan,” said Rodriquez, who works as an animal care technician at AFB International in Montgomery City. “We haven’t seen each other since. She never met my son. Of course, we’ve done video chats, but it’s not the same. She never got to hold him or meet him. But I’m still very close with her even though we don’t get to see each other in person. She was on the phone with me when I was going into labor at the hospital. I still call her for everything.”