Felipa Xingo

(A-84) Status: Not Sponsored
Needs: Meal sponsorship, medical coverage, water filter, home expense assistance
To help: www.mayanfamilies.org/donatenow "A-84 [write needs, sponsorship etc.]"
To sponsor her for meals at $35 a month, visit: http://mayanfamilies.org/DonateMonthly.aspx

It is almost comical when Felipa describes her ailments as a chain of unfortunate surprises, then begins listing her medications, then pulls out prescription after prescription after prescription. The small table she sits next to houses bottles and boxes of pills, saliene, syrups, needles and more pills. "There are three things which bother me the most, and the rest is just a result of all of them," she says, "diabetes, chronic asthma, and pain in my joints."

"Just this week, my legs swelled up and I haven't left the bed. I'm taking these pills for the swelling. Yesterday I had a fever. I'm taking these pills for the headaches. I've been diabetic now 6 years. I get insulin injections. Asthmatic for 11 years, after making tortillas in the smoke all my life. I have this inhaler and this medicine for my lungs. And my knees haven't been good for a decade. So I take these pills for the pain.

Three weeks ago they rushed me to the hospital during an asthma attack. There were three of us in an ambulance, but we were going so fast that when we got to the city we crashed into the back of a car. The firemen who came took us to the hospital. They gave me a new inhaler and some saline solution.

A week later, I got a bladder infection, so I was given some antibiotics. But then I got diarrhea and they told me to take Pepto. Where do I get the money for all these prescriptions? I am trying to survive."

She has four children, and lives with one grown son who is in no state of financial security. He fishes when he can for a little income, but had lost his job a couple of months ago after breaking his arm. "I feel about to say goodbye to my children," Felipa says.

"My mother cries a lot out of pain. My brothers and I don't know what to do, none of us can find work these days. We can't leave her alone in the house just in case she gets an attack. Every month we take Mom to the Diabetes Club (at Mayan Families) to get her a check-up and insulin if there's any. She doesn't want to eat anymore because it makes her nauseous."

The little food they have comes from Mayan Families. They share the one meal a day between them.

If you would like to help Felipa with meal or medical support, please visit the links under the photo above. Thank you for your support!