Saving the Lives of These Beautiful Kids
Donation protected
Hello Friends,
My name is Katherine Sanz. I want to share a story with you. This story is about my nephews, Andres and Esteban. Andres is currently 9 years old, and Esteban is 14. My sister, Jeanneath is pictured above with her husband Rodrigo. This family lived in the country of Colombia where my sister worked as a Dentist, and her husband as a Salesman.
At the time, I was already living in the States. One day about three years ago, Jeanneath, Rodrigo and her kids decided they were going to come to Florida to visit the family and to take the kids to Disney World.
What they thought would be a wonderful vacation, soon took a detrimental turn. Her kids began feeling very sick and were soon hospitalized. They were having stomach and lung failure. Since the first day they were admitted into a hospital they have not known any other home.
They started off at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital where the doctors were unable to find what was causing their ailments. Soon they were transferred to Jackson Memorial, where the same thing happened. Finally they were transferred to Miami Children's Hospital. None of these hospitals were able to figure out what the reason for their illness was.
They were then sent to the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, a hospital specialized in Medical Research. What they found was that the kids lacked a protein called Interleukin 21. This protein is one which regulates the immune system. Andres and Esteban only have 20% of the amount necessary to maintain a healthy immune system.
This defect has exposed my nephews to bacterial, viral and fungal infections of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts. These infections are ones that mimic HIV/AIDS. Ultimately, the doctors believe that understanding their disease can greatly help with curing HIV/AIDS.
The disease that my nephews have is a rare and life threatening one. There has only been one other known case of this disorder in the world. This was the case of two brothers in Germany, who have now died because of this disease. Currently my nephews are the only known case of this illness in the world.
Since my sister and her family came here on a tourist visa they have not been able to acquire jobs to care for their children. They are in the process of acquiring their permanent resident visas, however they will need money in order to pay the fees for the visas, aside from the money they now need to continue to provide for their kids.
Recently they have not been doing well. The children are in critical condition and the doctors are still trying to find out how to help. Once my sister and her family are able to get their visas they will be able to work to provide for their children.
Right now we are in a moment of crisis, and we are reaching out for help. With your help we can help these beautiful children. From the bottom of my heart I guarantee that any amount of financial help and prayer will help this family, and even more so, help save the lives of these children.
I will be continuing to update this page with information about the family and how they are doing. Thank you all. For more information feel free to contact me.
My name is Katherine Sanz. I want to share a story with you. This story is about my nephews, Andres and Esteban. Andres is currently 9 years old, and Esteban is 14. My sister, Jeanneath is pictured above with her husband Rodrigo. This family lived in the country of Colombia where my sister worked as a Dentist, and her husband as a Salesman.
At the time, I was already living in the States. One day about three years ago, Jeanneath, Rodrigo and her kids decided they were going to come to Florida to visit the family and to take the kids to Disney World.
What they thought would be a wonderful vacation, soon took a detrimental turn. Her kids began feeling very sick and were soon hospitalized. They were having stomach and lung failure. Since the first day they were admitted into a hospital they have not known any other home.
They started off at Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital where the doctors were unable to find what was causing their ailments. Soon they were transferred to Jackson Memorial, where the same thing happened. Finally they were transferred to Miami Children's Hospital. None of these hospitals were able to figure out what the reason for their illness was.
They were then sent to the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, a hospital specialized in Medical Research. What they found was that the kids lacked a protein called Interleukin 21. This protein is one which regulates the immune system. Andres and Esteban only have 20% of the amount necessary to maintain a healthy immune system.
This defect has exposed my nephews to bacterial, viral and fungal infections of the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts. These infections are ones that mimic HIV/AIDS. Ultimately, the doctors believe that understanding their disease can greatly help with curing HIV/AIDS.
The disease that my nephews have is a rare and life threatening one. There has only been one other known case of this disorder in the world. This was the case of two brothers in Germany, who have now died because of this disease. Currently my nephews are the only known case of this illness in the world.
Since my sister and her family came here on a tourist visa they have not been able to acquire jobs to care for their children. They are in the process of acquiring their permanent resident visas, however they will need money in order to pay the fees for the visas, aside from the money they now need to continue to provide for their kids.
Recently they have not been doing well. The children are in critical condition and the doctors are still trying to find out how to help. Once my sister and her family are able to get their visas they will be able to work to provide for their children.
Right now we are in a moment of crisis, and we are reaching out for help. With your help we can help these beautiful children. From the bottom of my heart I guarantee that any amount of financial help and prayer will help this family, and even more so, help save the lives of these children.
I will be continuing to update this page with information about the family and how they are doing. Thank you all. For more information feel free to contact me.
Organizer
Katherine Sanz
Organizer
Ocala, FL
