Dear Friends,

Many of you who know me know how much I adore my housekeeper, Chona Martinez. Chona started working for me nine years ago when I was on bed rest while pregnant with Skipper. When I saw that she (and her team) cleaned my place better than I do, I knew she was special. In the nine years she's worked for me, she's only missed twice: Once when her father had died that morning and the second time last fall when she had COVID. Every single time she and Isabel clean, the house looks as amazing as it did the first time she cleaned it.

I found out today that her mom in Mexico, who is fully vaccinated, caught COVID last week. Sadly, despite the vaccine, she became quite ill and needed supplemental oxygen and 7 does of Remdesivir. EACH dose of Remdesivir cost $1,000. In order for her mom to receive this treatment Chona and her family had to pay for it in cash. This $7,000 is a hardship for her and her family but they paid for it anyway because there was no other choice if she wanted give her mom the best chance of surviving. Fortunately, her mom is doing better this week. 

When she told me this, I talked to Lenn and we decided to ask her if she would allow us to create a GoFund me campaign. At first she said "That's okay; we'll be okay" but I could tell that it wasn't okay, she was just embarrassed. Fortunately, I was able to talk her into letting us help her.

This is the first time we've ever done anything like this but it just seems tragically unfair that a person who did "all the right" things still caught this awful disease and, because of where she lives, the cost of the treatment is forcing her family to make hard decisions because of money concerns. 

If you can, I hope you will join me in helping relieve her of this enormous financial burden. I am collecting the money into my personal bank account and will make sure she gets your donation along with any words of encouragement. Any amount would be greatly appreciated.

Warmly,

Jessie

P.S. A friend asked why she had to pay so much since Mexico has Universal Healthcare. I thought that was a reasonable question so I asked Chona. Here is what she said:

Universal Healthcare in Mexico is primarily for Basic and preventative care, it can only be used at a public hospital/ clinic.  The place where my family lives is rural and they do not have the capacity to care for COVID patients. Usually my family would need to go to the main city for help, but due to the number of cases currently occurring in Oaxaca and them not having transportation, my sister hired a private doctor to go to my moms house and care for her at home.

Typically the medication is not that expensive, but because cases are currently high in Oaxaca they have increased prices for this medication because shipments are scarce. Even getting oxygen for my mom was very hard for my family because the oxygen tanks sell out quickly and they have to wait around for the next shipment.