Baja Bernie - 6-23-2005 at 07:29 PM
Wandered down to my old stomping grounds of La Salina to deliver a like new BMX trick bike to Andrew. He is now ten and is rather small for his age
because of his treatment for leukemia. He was diagnosed with this child killer disease when he was only four years old. Many of us, useless gringos,
invested a ton of love, a lot of hurt, and more than a few bucks to deny the devil this boy. He is the grandson of my compadre of over 30 years and
we were not about to give up on him. His mother, Flora, is a single woman who was married when he and his older brother were born in LaPaz. The guy
who married her up here took her to that town and his mother turned Flora into a virtual slave. She did all of the work during the day and was
chained up at night. She was only treated like a human for a few months when she was carrying the kids. She was rescued by a Canadian fisherman and
returned to La Salina?he kicked the crap out of her ?husband? before he left?BUT THAT is another story.
The hospitals down here are run very much differently than those in the states and the family had to provide the food and the nurse while Andrew was
in the hospital and that was very often. His grandfather, Kio, became his nurse and prepared all of his meals
while he was in the hospital, far too often, because he kept getting infections, due to the treatments, every time he turned around. You can never
believe how they bonded during the next five years.
Anyway, back to the beginning. When I got to the house the only person there was ?Miguel Jourdan?, my name for Andrew when his hair all fell out. I
got a? hola Burnie and a huge Mexican smile as I got out of the van.
The smile faded when I pulled the bike from the back of my van. I tussled his beautiful black head of hair and laughed because I quickly understood!
Andrew was hurt that I was bringing him such a small bike because the successful therapy left him far smaller than his friends ?he never said a word.
I quickly smiled and danced around him as I had in the past and explained that the bike was for Sara who is his cousin and only about four years old.
This caused him to puff up and accept the bike for his ?little? cousin.
Putting oneself in others shoes never seems to hurt
reaching out
Sharksbaja - 6-24-2005 at 12:40 AM
You've a kind heart Bernie. How old is the boy now? What's his prognosis?
Sharks
Baja Bernie - 6-24-2005 at 03:15 PM
He is ten years old and he has been in remission for about a year. his hair is all thick and black. He will always be smaller than his expected
height but his family sure don't care. He wants to be a foosball player and he goes through soccer balls like mad. Quite a kid.