Mom Starts Gift-Wrapping Business To Help Support Her Baby Battling Brain Cancer

BURBANK (CBSLA) — A mom of a baby with brain cancer is earning money for his support, exercising her creativity and delighting her customers with her gift-wrapping business in Burbank.

Lesly Torres has set up shop in front of her aunt's house in Burbank for the past three weeks, wrapping gifts for a fee. Her 20-month-old son Rafael sits nearby in a car seat watching as she does her work, a breathing tube taped to his cheek the only hint of his condition.

Rafael was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer when he was just four months old. He has since undergone several medical procedures, including surgeries, chemotherapy and radiation.

"I was sad, I was inconsolable, but at the same time, I was holding my tears because I didn't want my baby to see me crying," Torres said.

Her husband already works 12 hours a day to support the family, so when the holidays came around, the 30-year-old mom began wrapping gifts for a fee.

The small business did much more for Torres than bring in some money.

"The moment I started wrapping the gifts, I just started feeling good," she said. "I also want to see the joy in people when they receive the gift. I want them to say, 'I don't want to open it because it's so cute.'"

Torres says firmly that the family does not want donations or charity.

"If they want to help me, I would love for them to bring me their gifts," Torres said.

The entrepreneurial mom says she will be wrapping gifts at Chandler and Griffith Park Drive in Burbank until Sunday.