Imagine this: it's your very first day in a new country. You've been planning this trip for months and you've finally made it. Maybe you didn't expect to be so nervous; maybe you didn't expect to be so calm. You search a bustling airport for the person they promised would be there waiting for you. Eventually you find him and try out your best Spanish in the taxi ride. You tell yourself it will get better if you just keep practicing. You drive through traffic, tall buildings, busy streets, and signs for restaurants that look like home. After a few crazy hours of expectations meeting reality, you are dropped off in front of a little house with a gate—your Costa Rican home. You walk in with your bags and your tired or scared or excited or anxious or all-of-the-above face to meet the people who have accepted you into their home on this adventure.

Juan Carlos and Maria Elena Mendez greet these faces week after week. Unfailingly, their family soothes them, welcoming hundreds of strangers into their home with love and their country with pride. If you're reading this, maybe it was your face that faded into relief as they opened the door. Maybe it was your friend, or your child, or maybe you just know what it's like to be far away from your house but still feel at home.

It would be wrong to call these bonds anything but family. And when those who have loved and supported us need that same love and support in return, it's important to come together as one big international family and do what we can.

Unfortunately, the Mendez family needs that support. Juan Carlos was recently diagnosed with colon cancer covering 70% of his rectum and 10 centimeters of his colon. For him, this means many doctors appointments, chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and more chemotherapy. For his family, it means many doctors appointments, lots of sacrifices, and a battle to make economic ends meet.

Beyond the medical and emotional challenges the family is going through, they are also faced with more expenses and less income now that Juan Carlos can no longer work for Uber or contribute to the lavandería. They have had to pay for private insurance as the public caja would have taken months just to process his test results. They are struggling with transportation as Juan Carlos experiences pain when sitting and can't drive himself to his appointments.This makes his frequent trips to Hospital Mexico a challenge as Maria Elena doesn't know how to drive.

The family is doing everything they can to stay afloat in these tough times. Their daughter, Karen, has come home from her job in Arenal and left her university degree unfinished to save money and support her family. Maria Elena has left her English classes after two years and a near completion of the program in order to take care of Juan Carlos and work to support the family.

We all wish we could be alongside them in that little house with the gate, cooking dinners, sharing memories, laughs, hugs, and tears. Although this may not be possible, we can come together to help alleviate some of the financial stress their family is facing, giving them a little more strength to carry on in this battle against cancer.


-Written by Brooke Lyon.

Update! 
Hello all, my name is Erica Spanjers and I started this go fund me for Juan Carlos and Maria Elena and their family. 

I met this kind family because of my previous job with a large international volunteering provider here in Costa Rica. Maria Elena and her family were kind enough to invite me in to their home and spend Christmas with their family when I couldn't return to Minnesota in 2015.  We stayed in touch after switching jobs and I would pop in to visit their laundry business when I was able to.  Several weeks ago I popped in to say hello and shared coffee and cookies with Maria Elena. It was then she told me of Juan Carlos's diagnosis. After that day, with several other close friends, I started the Go Fund Me. 

The funds will be withdrawn via my account, and my mother will personally bring the funds (in cash) down to Costa Rica when she visits. At this time we will give the raised funds to Maria Elena and Juan Carlos. Though neither have explicitly said what their financial needs are, we intended to raise the money as supplemental income and to offset costs associated with  Juan Carlos's treatment. 

Thank you to all who have contributed to this sweet family!