Alvaro is a fourth grade student at New Life School in the Mayan village of Santa Maria de Jesus in Guatemala where our ministry works.  He is one of the kindest and most well behaved children I have met in 30+ years of working in special education.

In April, 2018  Alvaro began having difficulty walking and speaking.  Having had a brain tumor removed previously, his parents were duly concerned and took him to the national hospital for diagnosis.  It was discovered that the tumor had returned and was pressing on his brain stem.  His symptoms were worsening rapidly.

It was amazing to see the compassion of Alvaro's classmates and they
helped him while his condition worsened.

It was discovered that his tumor had regrown.  While it was a benign tumor, it had a vascular core (think a spaghetti-like ball made up of arteries and and veins) requiring lengthy and complicated surgery, with the risk of severe bleeding.  Untreated,  the tumor's continued growth would have put more and more pressure on his brain, and his condition will deteriorate.  Without this surgery, he would have, according to our surgeon, died a "slow and painful death."

The family discussing treatment options with our friend and
neurosurgeon, Dr. P.

Due to the gravity of this tumor, he needed  to receive the surgery by a private surgeon in a private hospital here in Guatemala.  While not costing much more than the copay would have  been for surgery in the US, the cost was astronomical to this Guatemalan family.

His family committed to do all they could to raise these funds, but they are farmers who sell their produce at a local market and have very limited resources.  They sold some of their land and possessions and asked for help from relatives and friends.  Their only other option was to borrow money. Here this comes with an exorbitant interest rate of up to 25%.  Borrowing the money the family would never be out of debt and risk losing what property they still have.

The family never asked for help, only emotional support, advice and prayer.  However, God convicted me that, while we do not usually take on projects of this magnitude, Alvaro was to be an exception.  I felt led to start a GoFundMe page (not our usual method of making a needed known), and withing 20 days we had the needed funds for him to have his surgery.  The majority of the donations came from people I did not even know.  (I guess God knew where the funds would come from.  I'm so glad I followed his prompting!)

The next hurdle was to get 9 people to donate his exact blood-type.  Nine blood donors is a challenge anywhere, but here in Guatemala it is especially difficult.  There is much misunderstanding and even superstition here associated with donating blood and folks are very reluctant to do so.  God, however, that this and within one week we had the needed blood banked at the hospital.


Two of our champion blood donors, Nizsa, a teacher at the school and Dani, a companion-caregiver at our home.


The end of August, Alvaro was successfully operated upon and 98% of the benign tumor was removed. What could not be removed due to its location on the brain stem is scheduled to be radiated to prevent it from returning. We are grateful to God, the medical professionals involved, and especially the donors who made this happen.

Alvaro has made a miraculous recovery, leaving the hospital only 8 days after the eleven and one-half hour surgery. He receives therapy three times a week to help with mobility and strength, but is a champion fighter.

We had not anticipated the need for radiation and will need to raise approximately $5000 to cover the cost of future treatment and therapy. If you can help with this we would be most grateful.