We don't have the statistics, but judging by the number of kidney patients who come to our office asking for assistance with publicity for their plight, we'd say there's an epidemic of renal failure. Again, that is not scientific, but we surely can say that the number of persons we see with kidney failure has increased geometrically since the year two thousand. And while all the cases have their own tragic trajectory, the one we encountered today was truly difficult. It's a 23 year old mother whose kidneys have both failed and now her body is giving up too. There's nowhere else to put the dialysis tube and a surgery done in Guatemala that was supposed to fix that has backfired leaving this young mother with nowhere else to turn.
Jules Vasquez, Reporting
"This is 23 year old Greilin Carcamo - both her kidneys have failed and because of a pressing condition none of her veins can accept the tube for dialysis. You can see how her hand has been cut but it can no longer accept the dialysis tubes."
Greilin Carcamo
"My condition right now is that they cannot put the Catheter anywhere on my body. I was in the hospital for 1 month, they only gave me injection to ease the pain. They told me that they can't help me in Belize. They told me that I need to go to doctors in Guatemala for help. I went to Guatemala to put in the Catheter, but it damage something in my stomach. The doctors say that they can change it but they need $3,000.00 to do that. "
It is three thousand dollars she does not have and without it she can't do dialysis - and it has left her, on death's door.
Jules Vasquez
"It's not something that you can live with, you have to solve this problem."
Greilin Carcamo
"Yea, I have to solve it."
Jules Vazquez
"And if you don't solve it?"
Greilin Carcamo
"Well, I will die because the blood that is outside the vein is creating matter, so if stay with that in my stomach I might die. I have my little daughter and I don't want to die, I want to live for her. My baby is too small to be without a mother. My little daughter told me that she doesn't want me to die and leave her by herself because she will punish. She says she want me to live until she gets older to finish school. I don't want to die and leave my baby."
If you'd like to help you can call 621-3411 or 669-5743.
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