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Broncos Fan Who Needs Lung Transplant Cheers On Team At Sea Level

CBS4's Jamie Leary is driving to California's Bay area with photographer Mike Abeyta for Super Bowl 50. They left from Denver early Monday morning will be filing reports about the Denver Broncos along the way.

CBS4's Jamie Leary is driving to the Super Bowl and reporting from the road this week (credit: CBS)

MODESTO, Calif. (CBS4) - Many people in Denver know who Eric Del Toro is. CBS4 has even done a story on him before. Like many loyal fans, he has never missed a game.

Amazing, since he lives in the heart of Raiders nation -- Modesto, California. This story isn't about Eric, though. It's about his daughter, Jessica, 32.

"She is a fighter," Eric said when we met up with him in the suburbs of Modesto.

Modesto California
Eric Del Toro with Jessica (credit: CBS)

Eric had to move his family from Denver to Modesto when Jessica was born. Jessica has Pulmonary hypertension. There is no cure, and the air in Denver is too thin for Jessica's lungs.

"Picture it like you're trying to breathe with your hands over your mouth and a bag over your head," said Jessica's sister Vanessa.

Jessica is constantly surrounded by her die-hard Broncos family. She has always been a Broncos fan, and when her father travels to Mile High for the games, she can be found (sometimes too excited) watching the game with the rest of her family.

"Just cheering for my Broncos and turning up that air!"

She has to turn up her oxygen tank -- which she has named Bronco -- when she watches the game because she gets too excited.

Jessica Del Toro
Jessica Del Toro (credit: CBS)

Jessica has defied all odds, according to doctors. They called her the "Miracle Baby" when she was born at Denver Health Medical Center. She credits her family and her faith.

Her sisters would say it's her positive attitude.

"She never complains. She always has a smile on her face," Vanessa said.

For Super Bowl 50, even more love for Jessica is pouring forth. More family and friends traveled from Denver to Modesto to bring the party to her.

"She is inspiring. It's not just about the Broncos, it's about Jessica," Ben Gallegos, a family friend, told CBS4.

Jessica's family and friends started a GoFund Me page. They are trying to get her to the Super Bowl.

She will clearly need to bring Bronco with her, but she wants to go more than anything.

"She could never go to Mile High stadium and experience what so many of us take for granted, so what better way for her to experience that in the biggest game of the Denver Broncos, SB50 and it's right here in her backyard," said Gallegos.

The chances of raising enough money are slim, but Jessica isn't letting the odds get her down. She never does, according to her family. And she is very much looking towards the future. Jessica is recently engaged.

"That was a curveball," Eric excitedly said.

Jessica is currently waiting on a lung transplant. She isn't on the list quite yet but she says she will have the transplant and she will get to Denver eventually.

"There will be 100,000 people at her wedding because it's going to be at Mile High stadium," Eric said.

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