About the author
Holger is a management consultant turned volunteer. He loves to take pictures, run around in the sun, dive and he has never met a beer in his life he didn't like.
More posts by Holger
German Version: Wir sammeln für Marcelo.
Last weekend (9 Sept – 11 Sept 2011), we were invited to visit Toledo by our friends Marta and Rob Hirons. They have been living down in Big Fall Village for more than 10 years now, running the Lodge at Big Falls. On saturday, Rob drove us around the villages, to the Maya site Lubaantun and to meet some of his friends. (We’ll blog about that in a few days.)
On our way back to the lodge, Rob took us to visit a friend of his, Miguel Choco. He’s an organic cacao farmer (yes, his last name is Choco) and has worked with Rob for years.
Miguel wasn’t home but we got to meet his family who welcomed us into their house and gave us juicy, sweet carambola (aka starfruit) to eat that one of their girls picked from a tree for us.
We also met Miguel’s son Marcelo. Marcelo is 13 and was diagnosed with a brain tumor this year. The tumor was removed and was found to be non-malignant, so it should not have spread before it was removed. The problem is: The family doesn’t know if it in fact did or did not spread. They have already spent more than BZ$ 5.000 (USD 2.500 / € 1.800) on surgery and treatment. I have no idea how they were able to afford this but now there is no money left for the needed MRI to check Marcelo for any other tumors.
They simply don’t know if the surgery worked of if and where there’s another tumor that needs to be taken out. When we met Marcelo, there was one thing that separated him from his siblings. While they were jumping and skipping around and generally being kids, Marcelo sat in his chair, timidly smiling. His whole demeanor showed that he just didn’t know if he could be relived and start to just be a boy again.
The MRI costs BZ$ 2.340 (USD 1.170 / € 850).
We donated on the spot. So did Rob.
Now we’re asking for your help so that Marcelo can find out if he is cured or if there is another tumor that needs to be taken care of.
Please use paypal to send donations to holger.heinze@googlemail.com or use our paypal donation button on our fundraising-page. You can also use bank transfers and other means. (Paypal are re-doing their website at this point. If the buttons don’t work, please contact us directly.)
Send us a message if you have any questions. (See bottom of website)
Please help Marcelo!
Kerstin and Holger
Pingback : Sinnvolle Reise » Our trip as development volunteers » Wir sammeln Spenden für Marcelo, 13 Jahre
Pingback : Update: Fundraiser for Marcelo « English Articles « Sinnvolle Reise