Francia Torrealba, a 38-year-old single mother who looks nearly 10 years younger, has a strong belief in angels and the power of prayer.

“I think God has sent many angels in my direction and great blessings,” Torrealba said.

She has need of both. Three months ago, doctors told her she had breast cancer. Then they gave her a choice: have both breasts removed or have a lumpectomy, in which only the tumor and surrounding tissue is removed. She chose the lumpectomy. She also chose not to tell her 5-year-old autistic son, Sebastián Morales, about the struggles she would have to endure.

“I didn’t think he would understand,” she said, as she watched him playing with a Sheriff Woody doll from Toy Story.

When Sebastián was 2, Torrealba noticed her son was not talking.

“He wouldn’t say any words,” she said. She took him to a specialist. Sebastián was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder-Not Otherwise Specified or PDD-NOS, a type of autism in which a person may display mild autistic characteristics, or may have symptoms in one area, such as social deficits, but none in another area, such as repetitive behaviors.

Torrealba would watch her son carefully. She noticed the boy would go on all day without eating or complaining if there was no one around to feed him. He had trouble making eye contact with people. To this day, she still tells him repeatedly what her plans are for the rest of the day.

Torrealba, who rents in a two-bedroom condo in Doral, enrolled her son in special education classes at Rolando Espinosa K-8 Center in Doral.

She believes the teachers there are miracle workers. During the past year, Sebastián has made great improvements. He can now speak in short sentences and he doesn’t shy away from people as much as before.

Torrealba arrived in Miami from Venezuela in 2002. She met a man, they married and they had Sebastián. Not long after, the husband left.

“He basically abandoned us,” she said. “He comes by maybe once a month to see Sebastián, but he doesn’t bring food and he doesn’t support us.”

In Venezuela, Torrealba was an attorney.

“I was one of a handful of attorneys representing a workers’ union,” she said.

In Miami, she has had a series of odd jobs. She works more than eight hours a day in a courier’s office, even though she’s not supposed to work due to the surgery.

“What can I do?” she asks. “I have to work. I have to put food on the table. I have bills to pay.”

Six months ago, she started receiving food stamps for the first time.

Her rent is four months overdue. She is grateful that her landlord has been reasonable and patient with her and understands what she is going through.

“He has been an angel,” she says of her landlord, but she’s keenly aware of her responsibilities, and knows that his patience may run out soon.

Torrealba’s sister, Francela, recently arrived from Venezuela. She is helping as best she can, but her stay in Miami is short. She must leave in two months.

Another of Torrealba’s “angels” was an English-speaking neighbor who stopped by to offer her his food.

“He was moving away because he found work elsewhere,” she said. “He asked me if I wanted some of the food. Minutes later, he came by with several bags. He said he had emptied his refrigerator and his pantry.”

Torrealba has organized a small prayer group that meets in her home about once a week. The group is comprised of mothers with similar issues as herself. Ultimately, she would like to expand the group, perhaps starting her own support group.

Ana Santana, family support coordinator at CCDH, an organization formerly known as the Community Committee for Developmental Handicaps, said that there are many components to selecting a family for the Miami Herald’s Wish Book.

“When I select a family I look at everything,” Santana said, “from strength to weakness, desire and the need that they have and can’t supply due to the current circumstance.”

She said Torrealba “is a hard-working single mom dedicated to her child who is autistic and now having to deal with her own health condition: cancer.”

Torrealba dreams of going to law school here and having a career again, but she can’t afford it. She also said she wants to divorce her husband but she can’t afford the fee to start the process.

“It’s difficult now with everything I’m going through,” she said.

She worries about her son and what will happen to him if she is unable to provide for him, but she’s happy with how well he has improved.

“He’s not what he was at 2 or 3,” she says. “I can see the improvements, little by little.”

Sebastián celebrated his sixth birthday Saturday. Her wish is to be able to provide her child with food, clothing and toys.

What she wishes for herself is good health and that the cancer stays in remission.

“I know I’ll beat this cancer,” she says. “God has helped me. He has sent angels in my direction to help me.”