The peace of the hospice: LAURA (10 years old, leukemia, Birth date: October 25th, 1998).

Laurita was born in Vélez, Santander (Colombia). Her father was killed when she was only four years old. Since then, she lives in the farm where her mother works (in the rural area of Santander).  She lives with her mother, one brother and one sister.
One day she started feeling bad: she felt dizzy, her leg hurt. That day, at school, she collapsed. She entered in coma. The doctors were very worried about her and transferred her immediately to Bogotá. There, they found out she had severe leukemia.

Some weeks later, Laura recovered from this serious episode, but when she woke up from the coma, she had forgotten everything… She had to start all over again with her mental functions: she had to learn how to read and write again, even how to walk and how to talk.

Her mother couldn’t leave the farm where she worked, so she had to go back to Santander. That is why Laurita entered into our hospice. She is very happy now because she found a place where she could stay and where she receives all the love and the support she needs being away from her family. Laurita also requires a lot of care because her leukemia is very aggressive. Her illness has attacked her ankles. Consequently, it is very difficult for her to walk properly.

Laurita is a very sweet girl. She likes to pray the Holly Rosary every night. When she is having pain or a difficult time in her treatment, she always asks Jesus to comfort her. She is a very mature girl for her age and she is very obedient. She loves to study. In the moment, she is preparing herself to receive the Sacrament of the First Communion.

The little disciple of God: VALERIA (13 years old, Skin cancer, Birth date: September 14th, 1995).

Valeria means “Valiant”, and that is exactly how she is. Vale was born with xeroderma pigmentosum, a very rare genetic condition marked by an extreme sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation, including sunlight. In other words, Vale’s organism isn’t able to absorb in a correct way neither the sunlight nor the other sources of ultraviolet radiation.
Vale was just nine months old when her mother noticed the first symptoms of the disease: her skin started showing freckles, which later on turned into skin tumors.  By that time, it was too late: the illness had already developed into cancer.  

Vale and her mother (who is a single mother) were living in a very hot town close to Barranquilla city (in the Caribbean Cost of Colombia).  It was really difficult to protect Vale from the sun there, so the hospital in Barranquilla sent Vale to Bogotá to receive a better treatment and to protect her from the hot weather.  However, her illness is irreversible...

Till now, Vale has had thirteen plastic surgeries to eliminate the tumors and reconstruct her face. She even lost one of her eyes because of a tumor. The surgeries made Vale suffer a lot, so she and her mother asked the doctors if they could try another treatment. Now Vale has to use a lot of special creams to treat the tumors and protect the skin.  She is more stable now.  Vale’s treatment is very expensive and her mother cannot afford it by herself.  That is why she is in our hospice while her mother works as a cleaner.  

Vale is a very spiritual girl, and she has a big desire to know Jesus and to grow in her faith. She likes to spend a lot of time praying in our chapel. Vale is always worried about the spiritual life of all the people in our hospice, and she keeps praying for a special intention: to stop the sin of abortion and to repair for the women who abort.  When she is in the Chapel, she says to God that she doesn`t want to be healed: “Lord, I just want to offer you my suffering for the conversion of my mother, for the peace of the world, for the peace of Colombia, for the women who abort, and for the bad people, so that they can become good someday”.

Vale is learning how to play the guitar. She also likes to read books about the life of saints. She is preparing herself to receive the sacrament of Confirmation next year.

The musician of the hospice: KAREN (7 years old, Leukemia, Birth date: June 16th, 2001).

Karen was born in Bogotá. Her mother has made great efforts and a lot of sacrifices to take care of her because she is a single mother. One year ago, Karen was playing with her friends when she fell down. Since that day, nothing was the same… She started feeling a terrible pain in her leg and she wasn’t able to walk any more. Her mother immediately took her to the emergency services of a nearby hospital, and after many medical exams, the doctors told her she had leukemia.
Karen was just starting school, but she had to leave it in order to begin the treatment. Her mother was in a desperate situation because she had to work all night long in a cafeteria, and during the day she had to take Karen to the Hospital. Some days, she was so tired that she wasn’t able to go, which was terrible for Karen’s recovery. Besides, when Karen didn’t have to go to the Hospital, she had to stay at home on her own because her mother didn’t have anybody to look after her.

Nowadays, Karen is in our hospice and she has the opportunity to share with other children during the day: she is not alone any more. She is much better now because she is receiving good nutrition and she lives in excellent hygienic conditions in the hospice (actually, her mother was very worried because they lived in an extremely humid place, and that was dangerous for Karen`s health). She is also learning to read and write while she is in our shelter. When she has to be hospitalized, our foundation is always there to support her and her mother.

Karen loves to sing and she wants to be a professional dancer. She always has a smile for everybody and she would like to travel and visit Disney World.

The joy of our shelter: OSCAR (7 years old, Leukemia, Birth date: march 18th, 2001).

Oscar was born in El Placer, a little town in the department of Vichada (a very poor region of Colombia, near the Amazon Jungle). When he was six years old, he started to feel the symptoms of the illness. By that time, he was living in Venezuela: his family had to leave their home in Colombia and move to this country because of the violence in the region.  When they were starting a new life in Venezuela, Oscar began feeling sick and tired.  His legs hurt very much and some days he couldn´t even walk.  Therefore, the family decided to return back to Colombia…
Oscar’s family arrived to Bogotá (the capital city of Colombia) as refugees, and it was in Bogotá where they found out that he had Leukemia. When Oscar began the treatment, his father had to go back to Vichada to work. He returned to Vichada with Oscar’s older brother.  His mother and his little brother stayed with him in Bogotá.  At the beginning, they had very difficult times because they couldn´t find a place to stay.  Apart from that, they didn’t have enough money to pay the rent, the transport to the hospital, the medications, the food... There were days in which, after chemotherapy, Oscar and his mother had to walk for one hour under the rain because they didn’t have money to take a bus.

The treatment for Oscar takes around two years.  He needs intensive medical care and good nutrition, while his mother works and takes care of the rest of the family.  Oscar is in our hospice with all the special care he requires. With your support, you are contributing to help Oscar to finish his treatment successfully and you are also helping his family. Oscar is a very clever and charming boy and he likes to share with other people. He is learning to read and write, and he is very good in mathematics.  When he grows up, he wants to be a Chef or a Pilot.