“I woke up to find out I had systemic lupus, which also gave me a blood-clotting disorder. During those 25 days in the hospital, I flatlined three times.”
Evelina Solis wasn’t supposed to survive. And if she did, doctors told her she would never have children.
But sitting beside her today is the miracle they said was impossible: Hope Grace Castellon, her 14-year-old daughter, published author, podcast co-host, and living proof that healing generational trauma doesn’t just change one life. It transforms generations.
Their story is about more than surviving illness. It’s about healing from childhood trauma through a youth empowerment program designed to equip the next generation with tools many young people never receive, financial literacy for teens, life skills for teens, and public speaking for teens. Through initiatives like Shine Your Light Camp and their faith-centered podcast for young people, they are helping teenagers discover their voices, build resilience, and step into their purpose.
Together, Evelina and Hope are turning pain into purpose, creating a movement that combines faith, leadership, and healing so that young people can grow into confident, compassionate leaders.
The Crisis: Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Near Death
In 2006, Evelina was at what she thought was the peak of her life. Early twenties, working at the University of Miami as assistant director in multicultural student affairs, unusually young for the role because she’d graduated from college early. She’d previously worked in entertainment news as a broadcast journalist in New York City, covering red carpets and media premieres.
“I ended up finishing a presentation where we’re giving out awards,” Evelina shares. “I went upstairs to the office on the second floor. And I realized I was struggling to breathe, which was really crazy because I was training for a half-marathon at the time and was very active.”
That night, she went to urgent care, but they sent her home, saying nothing was wrong.
When Evelina woke up the next day, her brother, who had just left to go back to Ohio, was by her bedside. Her parents had frantically driven from Texas to Florida. She knew something was very wrong.
“I ended up having a pulmonary embolism that almost took my life. A lot of people die within their first 30 to 60 minutes of having a pulmonary embolism,” Evelina explains. “It was just really a miracle to be able to leave the hospital.”
She left in a wheelchair, hooked up to an oxygen tank. The diagnosis: systemic lupus erythematosus with a blood-clotting disorder.
“During those 25 days there, I flatlined three times,” Evelina shares. “I had a major recovery. We were back to a toddler-like state. All the family had to step in to do everything from help me brush my teeth, help me get dressed, teach me how to walk.”
Her doctors advised her to move closer to family for stability and support. So Evelina moved to Texas, began chronic illness recovery, and eventually returned to work at the University of Texas, Austin, running the Leadership and Ethics Institute.
But the journey with systemic lupus erythematosus was far from over.
The Miracle: Hope Against Medical Odds
Doctors told Evelina she’d never have children. The medications, the lupus, the blood-clotting disorder, pregnancy wasn’t just risky, it was considered impossible.
But Hope Grace Castellon is living proof that miracles happen.
“First and foremost, I’m a mamapreneur,” Evelina introduces herself. “This is my pride and joy. One of [my] reasons… for living is Hope.”
This mother-daughter relationship didn’t just survive Evelina’s chronic illness recovery; it became the foundation for healing generational trauma and launching a movement of youth empowerment. Their bond, forged through medical crises and chronic illness, demonstrates that the strongest mother-daughter relationships aren’t built in perfect circumstances. They’re built through honest communication, shared purpose, and mutual resilience.
Secondary PTSD in Children: Hope’s Story
While Evelina survived and thrived, her chronic illness didn’t disappear. And Hope, as a young child, witnessed things no child should have to see.
“When I was about seven, I just straight up thought I was gonna lose her,” Hope shares with remarkable honesty. “I remember seeing her, like, with the [IV] in her and having surgeries. She had a blood-clotting issue, like DVTs.”
Hope describes waking up at night to find her mom gone, hospitalized again. “I’d wake up a lot, and she’d be in the hospital. That really gave me trauma.”
This is secondary PTSD in children, experiencing trauma by witnessing a parent’s suffering and medical crises. For Hope, it manifested as anxiety, nightmares, and what she describes as “separation anxiety, but not quite that.”
“It took a big toll on me,” Hope admits. “Especially at that age, to wake up and your mom’s not even there. I’d have to get dressed and be like, ‘Oh yeah, my mom’s in the hospital.’”
Hope was playing soccer at the time. Evelina was one of the coaches. “There were times where she didn’t make it to games,” Hope remembers. “There was a certain period of time that she was in the hospital, and it was very serious. They said there’s a possibility that she wouldn’t have made it. So I’m still kind of healing from that, I guess you could say.”
“I recently had a hospitalization and I think that brought back all the memories,” Evelina explains. “That’s why it’s so fresh to her. I ended up having a blood clot, a DVT. I hadn’t had one in six or seven years, and it just brought her back to that place.”
“There’s still a lot of healing that we’re walking through,” Evelina acknowledges. “She gets that secondary post-traumatic stress from having to live through that.”
Trauma-Informed Parenting: Honest Communication
Rather than hiding her struggles from Hope, Evelina chose a different path: honest, age-appropriate communication about what was happening.
“I think this is a great podcast for other kids that are living with moms that may be chronically ill and have the same kind of situation,” Evelina says about their podcast addressing this reality.
This approach of trauma-informed parenting, being honest about challenges while providing age-appropriate context and emotional support, allowed Hope to process her experiences rather than suppress them.
“Music is like a comfort space for me,” Hope shares about her healing tools. “Singing. So yeah, that’s my way of dealing with stuff.”
The honesty created space for Hope to name her experiences, seek support, and develop resilience, all critical for healing generational trauma rather than passing it forward.
Faith-Based Resilience: The Foundation
Throughout their journey, faith has been the anchor for both Evelina and Hope.
“I’ve been living with the effects of systemic lupus for almost 17 years now,” Evelina shares. But she’s not just surviving, she’s thriving, serving, and pouring into the next generation.
“We are here for a much bigger purpose,” Evelina explains about their calling. “To make Jesus’ name known and to save these lives so that these students can have eternal life. In this journey, we can be a source to them.”
This faith-based resilience sustained them through:
- Evelina’s initial 25-day hospitalization and flatlining three times
- Chronic illness recovery spanning nearly two decades now
- A divorce that left them navigating life together for the past five years
- Hope’s secondary PTSD and ongoing healing
- Building a ministry and business from scratch.
“God’s hand’s obviously been on us through our journey, through our hell, through keeping us here,” Evelina reflects. “It’s been such a blessing.”
From Pain to Purpose: Sol2Soul and Shine Your Light Camp
Evelina channeled her experiences into creating Sol2Soul, her coaching and empowerment business, and Shine Your Light Christian Youth Leadership Camp, a week-long intensive program focusing on what schools often miss: leadership training, creative arts, life skills, public speaking, and financial literacy.
“We started with about 20 kids,” Evelina shares. “We’re at a little over 50 students this past summer. We want to make sure it’s quality over quantity.” And any student who’d been through three years of programming earned a leadership certification. “That was a lot of fun,” Evelina says.
At the end of camp, kids showcase what they’ve learned in front of their parents. “They went from these shy kids that walked in to now they’re up there working in groups doing, whether they’re acting out a Bible story or doing a short sermon, singing a song, comedy acts, dancing acts, whatever God is giving them as a gift or talent.”
Hope has been part of this journey from the beginning. “I volunteer at the Shine Your Light Camp and I help with some of the programs,” she shares.
Hope Becomes a Published Author at 10
In fifth grade, Hope’s class created a collaborative book. Each student pulled a part of the story and had to write connecting pieces.
“We had to draw our own pictures for the story,” Hope remembers. “We had people who could draw really good. When they told me everyone needed to draw something, I was like, ‘I suck at drawing.’”
Despite the stress, “Kids were underneath their desk, almost in tears, because it was so intense”, they completed it. Hope became a published author at age 10.
And Then Inspired Her Mom
“I saw one of her interviews online where she said one of her goals was to write a book,” Hope explains about her mom. “At the time, she hadn’t really done anything. She had talked about it, but she just hasn’t done it.”
Hope told her mom: “I wrote a book, our fifth-grade classroom wrote our book. I said, ‘It’s your turn. You have a crazy, awesome story to put out there. So you just, you need to write a book.’”
“I already did mine, now you could do yours,’” Evelina laughs about Hope’s prodding. “And it was the perfect timing. I love this scripture about shining your light, Matthew 5:14-16, about being a city on the hill that cannot be hidden.”
Seven months after Hope’s fifth-grade book, Evelina published her story in “Shine Your Light.” Mother and daughter became published authors in the same year.
Evelina is an international bestselling author in the Lightbeamer’s collaborative book series, each designed to empower women to share their stories:
- Elevate Your Voice
- Step Into Your Brave (my story is included here)
- Shine Your Light (Evelina’s story is included here)
Storytelling to Inspire Others to Heal
Evelina and I have a shared connection through these books. “April is one of the people on my path who’s responsible for me being here,” I share in the episode. “I met with her one day and spent time with her, poured out my puzzle pieces of the story, and she helped me to sort and put it all together.” She said to me, “You’ve got to write a chapter in Step Into Your Brave,” which I did.
Evelina had the same experience. “I became the Lightbeamers Community Ambassador,” she explains. “In Lightbeamers, when you share your story, you shine a light in the world.”
More recently, Evelina’s story was published in another collaborative book, “Unleash Your Story,” which came out in December. Her reason for writing and sharing her story is profound. “There is someone that you’re gonna share your story with that will be their survival guide. And if you don’t share your story, there’s gonna be people living in this world thinking that they’re doing life alone,” she told me.
The Hope and Ev Show: Youth Empowerment Through Podcasting
In October 2025, Evelina and Hope launched the Hope and Ev Show, a podcast giving youth a platform to discuss real issues.
“We wanted to give youth a platform to be able to help us understand how they were living life differently or set apart,” Evelina explains. “All of them deal with the same kind of issues: mental health, cyberbullying, middle school is really hard to make friends and keep friends, family issues, trust issues, self-esteem, self-worth, identity.”
The podcast features co-hosts who are student entrepreneurs, creatives, and high schoolers. “I feel that growing up, you’re hushed a lot. Don’t speak up. Don’t talk. You’re taught to play small,” Evelina says.
“Children are to be seen and not heard,” I add. “That was the phrase.”
“Hope says that we are on a mission to help these kids feel loved, be seen, to be heard, to have a voice,” Evelina shares.
The podcast’s unique spin is faith, family, fun, and the next generation.
Raising Resilient Leaders: The Next Generation
“I think the next generation, if people are not paying attention or pouring into that, is where it’s at,” Evelina emphasizes. “These are our future leaders. These are the ones that are going to be entrepreneurs, leading the world with politics, faith, and life.”
Hope’s transformation has been remarkable. Evelina has encouraged her to get involved with people, for example, asking her to pass out flyers to college students at an event Evelina spoke at. Hope remembers. “I did not want to go pass out flyers to all those college students. Or she would bring me on stage. I was like, ‘Mom, I don’t want to do this.’”
But now? “It definitely paid off. I definitely feel like I’ve gained more confidence. I’m still kind of shy, but yeah, that really paid off.”
“It’s at this age now that she’s a teenager that she understands the value of what we’re doing and the call that God has on our lives,” Evelina reflects.
This is raising resilient leaders in action: not shielding children from challenges, but equipping them with tools, giving them platforms, and trusting them with meaningful work.
Breaking the Stigma: Youth Have Stories Worth Sharing
“There’s one of the things that I think we miss in society,” I note in the conversation. “Even when people are really young, four or five, still very impressionable, the younger we are when we experience big T-trauma, the harder the effect can be on our life because we’re forming our view of the world from a very early age.”
Evelina agrees completely. “When people are saying, ‘Well, these kids are still young, what do they have to share?’ I’m like, ‘We all have those core experiences that made us who we are.’ Maybe not at 40 or 50, but maybe at six or seven.”
Hope had her traumatic experiences at age seven, watching her mother nearly die. That’s her story. That’s healing generational trauma by naming it, processing it, and using it to help others.
“The enemy wants you to stay in a place to not, you want you to feel shame, to feel you’re not worthy, you haven’t been given any gift,” Evelina explains. “But once you speak and release it and then empower other people, you’re breaking.”
“Absolutely,” I finish. “Yeah, it’s one of the most important things we do on the healing journey is to speak our truth.”
The Vision: Expanding the Impact
Shine Your Light Camp is ready for growth. “God has shown me in visions that we’re gonna be filling the gym here in the next few years. I’ve seen the vision of having our camp in different cities, packaging what we’re doing at Shine Your Light Camp and launching them in different areas so other people can run them.”
Future goals of the camp include: – Mother-daughter retreats – Father-son retreats
– Family workshops bringing families closer together – Youth conferences – Possibly teaching students to write their own books – Journalism classes teaching interviewing, podcasting, and public speaking
“Why are we waiting? Why are we telling them you have to live a little more life?” Evelina asks. “Some of these kids at the high school level have already walked through enough to be able to pour into a middle schooler’s life or elementary kids, that’s mentorship.”
Lessons in Healing Generational Trauma
What can we learn from Evelina and Hope’s journey?
1. Honest communication heals. Evelina didn’t hide her illness from Hope, allowing Hope to process secondary PTSD rather than suppress it.
2. Faith provides a foundation. Faith-based resilience sustained them through hospitalizations, near-death experiences, and ongoing health challenges.
3. Shared mission creates connection. Working together on Sol2Soul, Shine Your Light Camp, and the Hope and Ev Show strengthened their bond.
4. Writing for healing works. Both used writing to process trauma and share their stories.
5. Youth empowerment breaks cycles. Giving young people healing tools prevents them from carrying trauma for decades.
6. Vulnerability is strength. Hope speaking openly about secondary PTSD helps other kids feel less alone.
7. Purpose comes from pain. Their struggles became the foundation for a ministry serving hundreds of students.
Your Healing Journey Begins Here
Whether you’re navigating chronic illness recovery, supporting a child experiencing secondary PTSD, working on healing generational trauma, or seeking to build stronger mother-daughter relationships despite challenges, Evelina and Hope’s story offers hope.
Overcoming lupus doesn’t mean the disease disappears. It means building a life of purpose despite ongoing challenges. Addressing secondary PTSD in children means creating space for honest conversations about hard topics. Raising resilient leaders means equipping youth with tools early, not waiting until they’re adults to process trauma.
“We don’t want people living in this world thinking they’re doing life alone,” Evelina says. “We want everyone to heal.”
That’s the mission of Shine Your Light Camp, the Hope and Ev Show, Sol2Soul, and everything Evelina and Hope create together. As Evelina loves to say, quoting Matthew 5:14-16: We are a city on a hill that cannot be hidden. Our works should honor and glorify God. We have gifts and talents, don’t take them to the grave.
Shine your light.
Connect with Evelina and Hope
Learn more about Shine Your Light Camp, the Hope and Ev Show podcast, and Sol2Soul coaching at the links in the episode description.
For resources on trauma recovery, healing generational trauma, and beginning your own healing journey, visit our Resources page or download your free Healing Quick Start Guide.
Come on, everyone, let’s heal.