Rosa is a ten-year-old girl who lives with her family in Guatemala’s rural highlands. She is the youngest of her three siblings, and she loves to play with her nine-month-old niece.
Rosa’s father works as a day laborer, and her mother weaves and sells traditional Mayan textiles. Recently, Rosa has been learning how to shape and make tortillas, and in the future she wants to learn how to weave just like her mother does.
Rosa has been getting seizures for the past five years of her life. She cannot play as much as other children her age, and she no longer can go to school.
In the past, Rosa has received natural and herbal medicines from healers in her community. Now Rosa’s parents are searching for other means of treating her seizures. Her seizures cause her headaches and other harmful symptoms.
Rosa and her parents came to our medical partner, Wuqu’ Kawoq, and learned that she needs to receive a full diagnostic work-up, including labs, an MRI, and consult with physicians to determine the cause of her seizures. Then, the medical team will be able to develop a personalized treatment plan to reduce the frequency and length of her seizures. Her treatment will begin on May 30.
This will hopefully allow Rosa to go back to school, and it will bring Rosa and her parents happiness and peace of mind knowing that her condition is manageable and controlled.
Rosa’s family wishes for nothing more than for Rosa to feel well, but they do not have the economic resources to purchase medications that would control Rosa’s symptoms. Therefore, they are asking for help to fund the $1,044 to get Rosa her treatment.
Rosa says, “I hope that I can receive medication so that I can have a better life.”