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| Doña Teresa in better times (artwork/photo by Frida Larios and Tyler Orsburn) |
Only
two days ago around this hour I had just come back from a trip to Chiquimula, Guatemala,
to the vet. It was only sort of a coincidence that we took Doña Teresa, a lady
from a small village near Copán with us to see an orthodontic surgeon because
of the nasty infection a pulled tooth had left her. Little did we know that the
situation was so grave that there was no option left: we had to leave Teresa
behind for emergency surgery, if not she would surely die soon…
That
left me and my friend Argi baffled and overwhelmed, to say the least, but also
very preoccupied. The whole treatment was calculated to cost about $4,000 and
where the hell would we get that kind of money from?
But
since it was either taking Teresa back with us and let her die a painful death
or leave her behind and have her have her surgery… As I said, there was no
choice…
So
there we went, back to Copán, in the back of the pick-up truck with our rather
subdued dogs on our laps. The conversation went something like this:
“Did
we do the right thing?”
“Of
course we did, we had no choice.”
“But
how are we going to pay for the operation???”
“No
idea, but we’ll find a way.”
“Are
you sure???”
“No,
but we’ll find a way.”
“Okay,
we’ll find a way. Any ideas?”
“No,
not yet.”
Neither
of us slept very well that night ($4,000 hospital bills kept popping up in my
dreams) but probably not half as bad as Doña Teresa whom we had left without
even a pair of clean underwear. But as dawn arrived, we continued our quest.
Argi went to work early in the morning and learned that Teresa’s son and daughter-in-law
had already left for Chiquimula. That was a good thing, at least she wouldn’t
be alone when she’d wake up after her surgery. Argi spent the rest of the
morning talking to doctors to find out ways to cut down costs, for example by
bringing Teresa back to Copán, even though the specialist in Chiquimula would
like to keep her there for at least ten days. But at $50 a day, plus medication
and no money, well… how??? The local doctors as well as the surgeon agreed
finally that we could bring her home after three nights in the hospital and
that we could give her intravenous antibiotics here in Copán, which turns out
to much cheaper in Honduras
anyway. So far, all well. Teresa was doing reasonably well, although in a lot
of pain and with a face swollen up about three times the size it was before she went into surgery.
I
spent my morning writing my blog post and writing emails. Argi and I agreed to
get together in the afternoon to synchronize our posts and start asking for
money wherever we could, because so far the operation had gone well, but it was
on our shoulders to somehow pay for it all. We were both on the edge and
extremely nervous but especially Argi was hit very hard. She sounded awfully
depressed when I talked to her several times on the phone, so I offered, the
least I could do, to make her a nice dinner.
When
we got together yesterday afternoon we were still $4,000 in the red, but had
our petitions ready. We both posted them on Facebook and through emails and sat
down for dinner.
Now,
let me tell you, I don’t believe in witchcraft and I am a 100% sure that Teresa’s
horrible worms are the result of a nasty fly and an infection, not of any sort of black
magic. But still, I can’t stop believe in miracles.
We
had just sat down for dinner (nice steamed tilapia and pasta with mustard
leaves) taking our first bite when: Pling!
My
computer. Facebook message. A pledge for a $50 donation!
Pling!
Argi’s laptop. A $100 donation in Paypal!
Pling!
Mine again. Another donation!
Pling!
Pling!
Pling!
It
went on and on. Friends started sharing our links and the whole thing went
viral. When I went to bed around 10pm we had already raised about $700. That
was 700 times more than with what we had started the day…
Sometimes
these things take a spurt and then die a quick death. But oh, no, not Teresa’s
case. Today I spent the whole day answering emails to people I’ve never met in my
life but who were willing to help Teresa out. I went to the bank to pick up
donations through Western Union and from friends
in town and did one Paypal tranfser after the other. I just met Argi this afternoon
and we were besides ourselves, piling up cash. So far we have raised about
$2,000!!!! After talking to the doctor, we have now narrowed down the bills to
$2,600, not including the medications Teresa will need, plus the after care. But
in the end, we think around $3,000 will do, which is at least a $1,000 less
than we originally thought.
We’re
still not there yet, but already soooo much further than we ever imagined being
only 24 hours ago. Tomorrow we’ll bring Teresa back home. Her family is already
preparing the house, cleaning it and making it as adequate as possible for a
recovering patient.
This
adventure isn’t over yet, but we’re getting there. I can’t thank people enough
for their generosity, trust and faith.
To
be continued…
(Donations can be made through Paypal connected to my email adress: carinsteen at yahoo.com )
(Donations can be made through Paypal connected to my email adress: carinsteen at yahoo.com )
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