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The short version is that my mom has cancer.
Why should you help? 1 in 8 women get breast cancer -- why give money to this one?
She's spent her life helping and healing. She seeks out those who need a helping hand and gives them both of hers.
She taught midwives in the northern war zone in Nicaragua during the Contra war. She worked with trauma patients and kids with AIDS in the Soweto township in South Africa. She has run support groups for survivors of the Cambodian genocide. She testifies on behalf of torture survivors who seek asylum in the US, and she started a program teaching other doctors to do the same.
Here's the longer version:
(This was written by me -- her son -- and a group of her friends.)
A couple years ago I got a phone call from Kenya. It was my mom, Lucia Roncalli, who was in Nairobi working with Doctors Without Borders. She said, "How would you and your brothers feel about a sister?" At 63, it hadn't occurred to anyone that our mom was in danger of procuring a sister for us.
She was treating survivors of sexual violence in a Nairobi slum clinic. One of her patients had lived through the murder of her family and years of personal horrors, before finally making her way to Nairobi where she herself experienced severe violence within the first few days. Her name was Hope. She was 18 and pregnant from that episode. She and my mom bonded immediately, and one day Hope told Lucia, "You are my mom."
The truth of Hope’s words energized Mom to work through whatever channels possible to ensure Hope's safety. It took two and a half years, but Hope and her almost-two-year-old daughter Rosie were granted asylum in the US. They arrived in Anchorage, Alaska, where my mom had just started a job at the Alaska Native Medical Center. My brothers and I got a sister and a niece, and couldn't have been happier. But two months later there was bad news to go with the good: our mom has an aggressive strain of breast cancer.
Lucia can't work, and her disability insurance will cover only 25% of her income. This makes money very tight for reasons I'll break down below.
1.) She was a midwife for 20 years. The work she longed to do with refugees required an MD, so when she was 49 she went to medical school. Her debt from that is still enormous, and because she's not 100% incapacitated by the cancer (i.e., because she can still walk) many student loans (at high interest rates) cannot be deferred.
2.) Hope was injured in the attack that killed her family, and needs medical care, including surgeries, as a result. Rosie also has significant special needs, unforeseen until they arrived in the US. Many agencies and helpers are being marshalled to meet those needs.
3.) On-the-ground care: Mom and Hope and Rosie live together, but they need support -- cooking, cleaning, transport, tutoring for Hope, long-term work with Rosie to move her along etc. Mom says they need Mary Poppins. Your contributions will help us to find her—or a workable team of helpers.
4.) Cancer treatments: Mom has some genetic conditions which make conventional cancer treatments potentially dangerous for her. Soon, she'll be flying out of state for a regimen using European protocols. At best, insurance will offer partial coverage. She will need periodic follow-up care for the next year at least, possibly more.
Lucia’s salary would have taken care of all of this. But 25% of it won't. She needs major help, and soon. I've banded together with some of her closest and oldest friends to create this platform and start the process.
Mom is selfless to a fault. (Literally. Sometimes it's super irritating.) She fought long and hard against this campaign: her friends overrode her. The idea of asking for money, and for this much, utterly mortifies her. But she needs it, which is why we are asking for your help.
What I didn't mention is that Hope, prior to meeting our mom, and before her father was killed, vowed to him that she would become a lawyer. Her suffering has brought the dream more sharply into focus: she now wants to become an international human rights lawyer working to protect women and girls from what she endured. With Mom's support we're positive she can do it. But to support Hope we need to support Lucia. Any amount you can give is appreciated more than you can know.
Why should you help? 1 in 8 women get breast cancer -- why give money to this one?
She's spent her life helping and healing. She seeks out those who need a helping hand and gives them both of hers.
She taught midwives in the northern war zone in Nicaragua during the Contra war. She worked with trauma patients and kids with AIDS in the Soweto township in South Africa. She has run support groups for survivors of the Cambodian genocide. She testifies on behalf of torture survivors who seek asylum in the US, and she started a program teaching other doctors to do the same.
Here's the longer version:
(This was written by me -- her son -- and a group of her friends.)
A couple years ago I got a phone call from Kenya. It was my mom, Lucia Roncalli, who was in Nairobi working with Doctors Without Borders. She said, "How would you and your brothers feel about a sister?" At 63, it hadn't occurred to anyone that our mom was in danger of procuring a sister for us.
She was treating survivors of sexual violence in a Nairobi slum clinic. One of her patients had lived through the murder of her family and years of personal horrors, before finally making her way to Nairobi where she herself experienced severe violence within the first few days. Her name was Hope. She was 18 and pregnant from that episode. She and my mom bonded immediately, and one day Hope told Lucia, "You are my mom."
The truth of Hope’s words energized Mom to work through whatever channels possible to ensure Hope's safety. It took two and a half years, but Hope and her almost-two-year-old daughter Rosie were granted asylum in the US. They arrived in Anchorage, Alaska, where my mom had just started a job at the Alaska Native Medical Center. My brothers and I got a sister and a niece, and couldn't have been happier. But two months later there was bad news to go with the good: our mom has an aggressive strain of breast cancer.
Lucia can't work, and her disability insurance will cover only 25% of her income. This makes money very tight for reasons I'll break down below.
1.) She was a midwife for 20 years. The work she longed to do with refugees required an MD, so when she was 49 she went to medical school. Her debt from that is still enormous, and because she's not 100% incapacitated by the cancer (i.e., because she can still walk) many student loans (at high interest rates) cannot be deferred.
2.) Hope was injured in the attack that killed her family, and needs medical care, including surgeries, as a result. Rosie also has significant special needs, unforeseen until they arrived in the US. Many agencies and helpers are being marshalled to meet those needs.
3.) On-the-ground care: Mom and Hope and Rosie live together, but they need support -- cooking, cleaning, transport, tutoring for Hope, long-term work with Rosie to move her along etc. Mom says they need Mary Poppins. Your contributions will help us to find her—or a workable team of helpers.
4.) Cancer treatments: Mom has some genetic conditions which make conventional cancer treatments potentially dangerous for her. Soon, she'll be flying out of state for a regimen using European protocols. At best, insurance will offer partial coverage. She will need periodic follow-up care for the next year at least, possibly more.
Lucia’s salary would have taken care of all of this. But 25% of it won't. She needs major help, and soon. I've banded together with some of her closest and oldest friends to create this platform and start the process.
Mom is selfless to a fault. (Literally. Sometimes it's super irritating.) She fought long and hard against this campaign: her friends overrode her. The idea of asking for money, and for this much, utterly mortifies her. But she needs it, which is why we are asking for your help.
What I didn't mention is that Hope, prior to meeting our mom, and before her father was killed, vowed to him that she would become a lawyer. Her suffering has brought the dream more sharply into focus: she now wants to become an international human rights lawyer working to protect women and girls from what she endured. With Mom's support we're positive she can do it. But to support Hope we need to support Lucia. Any amount you can give is appreciated more than you can know.
Organizer and beneficiary
Lucia Roncalli
Beneficiary