(Alicia with her grandson Benjie, daughter Lorena, and my daughter Leila on her first birthday.)

Seldom in life do you meet a person as loving and caring as Alicia Medina. She dedicated her life to caring for others' children with patience and tenderness. She, her daughter, Lorena, and Maritza were a team that cared for 12 children from the age of 3 months to 5 years. Their daycare, called "Precious Children" is a small, home-based haven for kids like mine whose parents have to work. It was such a blessing to find a place to take my daughters where I feel that they are properly loved and nurtured in every sense of the word. The kids all love Alicia so much that she is known to them as "Mama Alicia".

Alicia's dad had been ill, and she hadn't seen him in over 20 years (since moving to the US from Guatemala). At his age, she felt that she might not have much time to put off the trip to her homeland, even if it meant risking not being able to return due to immigration complexities. So, she decided to make a long awaited trip back home, hoping for the best.

This trip was supposed to last a few months, and then she was to return to her home in Daly City and go on with life as usual. However, while in Guatemala, she kept having severe gastro-intestinal symptoms. She was treated for infection, but still she got no relief. Doctors in Guatemala decided to operate for apendicitis. Upon opening her up for the operation, they discovered that her abdomen was full of cancerous growths. They decided that it was inoperable and closed her back up to give her and her family the bad news. Her daughter, Lorena, whom she had worked with side-by-side for so many years, was devastated by the news that her mother, her rock, was terminally ill and 3,000 miles away.

Alicia's husband Placido is unable to leave the country to see his wife. Lorena's sister Noemi has gone to Guatemala to be with her mother. Lorena has had to stay behind to take care of her daycare business and her own young family. The expenses are putting a huge strain on Lorena and Placido's finances.

Alicia is in hospice care in Guatemala, and some days are worse than others. She gets uncomfortable accumulation of liquids in her abdomen that have to be periodically drained. She is often in a lot of pain. We would like to bring her back home so that she can get the best palliative care in her final days, and so that she can be home with her closest family members.

As a family, they are trying hard to pull together the funds needed for travel, accomodations, and medical expenses for all the members of her family that are mobilizing to surround Alicia with the loving vigilance she so richly deserves. In addition, Lorena has been spending a small fortune on attorney fees to try and get a humanitarian visa for Alicia to be able to come back home and be with her family in her final days. 

I am creating this account to do what I can to help in this regard. I know that alone, there is only so much help I can offer her. I am reaching out to the community, and my friends and family to help this amazing woman and her family. Nobody knows how long she has for this, so I hope you can contribute right away.

Thank you very much.

(We miss her so much!!)