Ana Marte Life Saving Surgery

Teodocia Santos Frias de Marte (or Ana as she is known to us) is a dear friend from the Dominican Republic. We first met Ana and Ramon when they came to visit a family friend in Ohio in the summer of 2019, and attended our church meetings for several weeks. At the time, our oldest daughter had just received a call to serve as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Dominican Republic Santiago Mission, which includes the Martes’ hometown of Puerto Plata. Although she did not serve in their area, we visited some of the Marte family members when we visited the DR in 2021. You can imagine our surprise and delight when our younger son received his call to serve in the same mission, and was even assigned to their home ward in Puerto Plata for his first area when he started his mission in 2022. Ana and Ramon took good care of our greenie missionary while he was there! We’ve grown to love and appreciate their love and faith!

Unfortunately, Ana was diagnosed more than a year ago with bladder cancer, and since then, she has undergone more than 5 surgeries and other treatments. The medical treatments have been extensive, but the tumor has not responded, leaving them with no other option besides a radical cystectomy, a major surgery which costs approximately $17,000.

The Marte family’s savings and other means of paying for the surgery have been depleted due to a variety of reasons. Their primary source of income had been a restaurant in their hometown. Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of the restaurant, leaving them without many other options. We are asking our friends to help offset the costs of Ana’s surgery -- a lifesaving procedure -- to give her more time to be with her husband, 4 children and 11 grandchildren. Please donate what you can, and share this request with others!