Juana Torres Fund

     



       Juana was an orphan at the age of 7 and where she would spend part of her life; the best thing to happen was meeting her future husband at the orphanage. They grew up the best of friends and soon fell in love with each other. Juana's father divorced a couple times and as a result she has two brothers and four sisters. As they all grew up they also grew apart. Juana has a sister and brother in Peru, a sister in Argentina, a sister and a brother in Italy, and her last sister in the United States who only lives thirty minutes away in Bountiful.


      Soon after her marriage she gave birth to a girl named Wendolyn. Two years later another daughter was born with the name Karem. After this the couple decided that the United States would be a better place to raise their children instead of their corrupt home. So they moved and flew to the U.S, where a year later their son, Paul was born. My mom was a hard working person who touched every person's heart.




      We all lived a happy life until one month she started experiencing extreme heartburn and some weight loss. She turned out to have a bacteria called H. Pylori. A bacteria that lives in the stomach lining and causes the stomach to produce too much acid.  She got started on antibiotics and was set to have that bacteria eradicated.

      However,  as time went by she lost too much weight. So much that most of her bones were visible. It was obvious the antibiotics might not be working. We took her to the ER and she was admitted into the hospital after a couple tests. The next morning she had an endoscopy and the doctors discovered a mass in her esophagus that would later be identified as cancer.



      She was diagnosed with terminal stage IV stomach cancer, and was given three to four months without chemotherapy.  And an average of one to three years with chemotherapy.  She went home with a feeding tube coming out of her abdomen,  and as a couple weeks went by we saw no results.  So we made an appointment,  and the doctors told us that because she was so weak and there is no improvement, that she was no longer a candidate for chemotherapy.


      Now she is on hospice and all we do is try to keep her as comfortable as possible. 

 

      Both my parents worked to keep their children financially stable. This has financially and emotionally corrupted our family. My father became so stressed with the circumstances that he developed a stomach ulcer (most commonly produced by stress). Everyday we come home to my mother in bed with her bare bones popping out, vomiting occurs every hour or more, pain all over her body because her muscles suffer from lack of protein. It breaks our hearts everyday.



      Since she stayed in the Huntsman Cancer Institute for a week and half the bills we are currently receiving are immense and overwhelming with all other bills piling up on our kitchen table. My dad is no longer working because we are all busy with work and school, leaving no one to take care of her. She can no longer stand to be alone because she is so fragile. Therefore, we are currently receiving no income. 

      If there is anything anyone can donate for medical bills,  and funeral funds to our family in this very hard time any little bit counts.