Hola queridos amigos, familia y para quienes no me conocen, mi nombre es Andretty Llamas.

En las siguientes líneas les vengo a contar mi historia. Tengo 23 años de edad y hace 3 años que inmigramos a Estados Unidos con mi mamá y mi hermana. Vinimos como muchos, con la maleta cargada de sueños. Actualmente yo trabajo par time como mesero. Los 3 juntos venimos trabajando por recuperar la estabilidad tras un año de pandemia y hace un mes recibí una noticia que nos cambiaría mi vida y la de mi familia. Fue un giro de 180 grados. Fui diagnosticado con cancer de tiroides, haciendo que nuestros planes y mis sueños se vieran afectados, junto a los desafíos emocionales y físicos a los que me he tenido que enfrentar desde ese día. Ha sido un camino en el que cada día se ha convertido en una oportunidad de vivir. El 19 de julio fui sometido a una cirugía para remover mi tiroides y parte del cancer.

Dado a que las circunstancias pasaron tan rápido no estábamos preparados para afrontar un gasto económico de esta magnitud, teniendo en cuenta que en nuestra condición de inmigrantes no se me permite acceder a ninguna ayuda.Es por esta razón que les cuento mi historia, pues no contamos con los recursos para cubrir el valor de la cirugía y el tratamiento al cual me tengo que someter, estoy aquí para pedir su ayuda y de esta manera poder seguir luchando para vencer esta enfermedad. La fe y el amor en Dios me ayudará a salir victorioso de esta prueba. Agradezco toda su ayuda y oraciones.

Hello to all. For those who do not know me, my name is Andretty Llamas. I am a 23-year-old Colombian citizen. I wanted to take the time to share how the events in my life brought me here today.

I moved to the United States with my mother and sister 3 years ago. Like many, we came in search of a safer and brighter future. Currently I am working as a waiter at a Mexican restaurant and so is my little sister. My mother works as a hairstylist from home. Although these are not the most stable jobs, we still feel incredibly blessed to have them. Like millions of others, we were not prepared for the pandemic to hit as hard as it did in 2020.  Being in the profession that we are in, our restaurants closed down and many clients stopped making appointments in fear of getting the virus. The 3 of us fought hard to make ends meet and succeeded until things got better, but as soon as we were back on our feet, we were hit with some news that completely changed our lives.

I was told I had a very aggressive form of Thyroid cancer that needed to be operated on as soon as possible to prevent it from spreading to other organs. I remember everything happening so quickly and not really processing what was happening to me. In less than a month, I was scheduled for my surgery. Luckily, there were no complications, but the surgery was not able to remove all the cancer. This meant more medicine, treatments, and surgeries in the future.

Because I am not a US citizen, I was told there was no financial assistance available to help with my medical bills. On top of this, I was told I would not be able to continue being seen by my doctors if my bills began to get too high. Because my thyroid was removed, and the thyroid is what balances every aspect of your body, I will have to continue taking medicine or my body will shut down. This is why I felt I had no other choice than to share my story in hopes that I can receive some help to continue being treated and for my future operations and medicine.

Thank you for taking the time to read my story.