Help Yuleidy, Single Mother of Two, Fight Cancer

Saludos familia,

I come to you, once again, for your help.

Yuleidy Rodriguez Suriel has been battling Hodgin’s lymphona since she was diagnosed with it back in 2017. She’s had six cycles (and needs 16 more) of treatment she needs to combat this horrific disease. Each one of them costs RD$479,690. Her insurance only covered a million pesos (for two treatments) and the Dominican Ministry of Public Health covered one treatment. The rest she had to look for on her own. Again, she needs 16 more. That’s a total of RD$7,675,040. Which is approximately (with a fluctuating currency exchange averaging at $58 pesos per US dollar) US$132,328. Please don’t forget that GoFundMe takes a percentage and so do bank wires from one country to another.

Right at this moment she only has us. Due to the cancer and the pandemic taking away her livelihood, she’s been left to her own devices for treatment, rent, food, and necessities. The little money she’s getting from the government barely cover them and she, along with her little girls, are also going hungry. It was extremely difficult for her to tell me this since she’s such a private person and doesn’t want to be a burden to anyone—even after having contributed years to the welfare of her country as a tourist agent. She deserves help regardless of her contributions to society. She feared asking for such a high amount would deter people from helping out, but without the full treatment, she won’t make it. That’s the unfortunate truth. However, any amount you can give will be tremendously helpful. 

Her mother and aunt passed away from cancer. She has nobody but us.

I believe, as many of you do, that it is our responsibility to take care of each other even when most of our people get little to zero help from our governments, from our institutions, from our politicians, from our athletes, from our celebrities… The ones we make filthy rich with our tax dollars, with our buying power, with our support—I want them to prove me wrong. Of course, I don’t speak of/for all. Any help they give is much-needed and appreciated, but they’re obviously not doing enough in this purposely hierarchical world. Otherwise, I shouldn’t have to be asking you for help for a single mother battling cancer—yet here we are.

I shouldn’t even have to tell you that Yuleidy is a single mother for us to see that her life has value, but I’m keenly aware of how society thinks and what makes it act. It’s not just one person struggling here: both her young daughters and the people around her also are. Yuleidy’s life matters. Her daughters need her alive. We all know the importance of having our mothers in our lives. Yuleidy’s life matters regardless of her marital status—whether she’s a single mother or not. Let whatever you feel about that move you to act to help her.

This is not about self-aggrandizement, getting public points, kudos, props for doing a good deed. This is about saving a life. I truly believe that whatever we do to help others should be done in private unless they ask otherwise. Unfortunately, we live in such a chaotic, cruel, and indifferent world that one must bring to light the pain and suffering of our fellow human beings just so we can do something to alleviate a fraction of their torment. So here we are. Those who have the means, don’t, and those who are willing, can’t. We are in a terrible predicament because of how we've elevated certain beliefs, customs, behaviors… but we don’t have to be like that.

There are too many people in the world who are suffering. We have the means to stop that.

Yuleidy is one of those people.

Please help with as much and however you can—be it $5, $10, $1,000, the whole bill, and more if you will (she needs to cover more expenses than just treatment)—by sharing this fundraiser, by sending this fundraiser to all of your family members and friends, by tagging institutions, politicians, the media, celebrities, athletes, and whoever you think can assist.

We owe Yuleidy and the people in the world going through a (life-threatening) difficult time, our help. 
 
Thank you for yours.

If you'd like to see one of her posts (trigger warning: there are graphic pictures) click here . 

If you'd like to reach out to her directly, try her number or her WhatsApp: +1 (809) [phone redacted].

Muchísimas gracias.