Help my mom visit my dying grandma
Donation protected
My grandma has late term Alzheimer's. She's been given up to 8 weeks to live, but she can go any moment. We live at a different continent, and don't have enough to visit her.
I was born in 1996 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I grew up on the outskirts of Rio. Her house was a few meters away from mine, so she helped raising me whenever my parents were working.
We were poor, Rio was violent and the future very scary. Bad things happened all the time. So my parents thought raising their children in Europe was for the best and after years of saving and with help of certain family members, we were able to move to Portugal in 2004. It was very tough because we had a very united family.
When we arrived, both my parents had nothing. They had to build everything from scratch. We strived every single day - we still do - and It's not easy, It's very lonely. We always lived with just enough not to go hungry, but we could never put money on the side. Not even today. And, because of that, I haven't seen my grandma in 14 years. Our income simply doesn't allow us to save enough for an intercontinental trip.
We were told she had Alzheimer's about a year ago, but we're sure she was diagnosed beforehand because when we called her, I could tell she just very, very confused... and probably didn't recognize us. As the months went by, her condition worsened, as expected. Lask week, she had to be urgently taken to the hospital because of some complications, and my family was told she has up to 8 weeks to live, but that she could go any day. She was then sent home to die naturally.
My mom is very, very attached to my grandma. Completely. She calls my aunts, who take care of my grandma, at every oportunity. Her heart is shattered, because she knows she'll probably never see her mom again. She's been trying to save as much as she can, working as hard as ever in order to save, but it will never be enough to visit her on time. Our family can't help us. Nor do friends. So, I decided to create this.
Ideally, I'd love to see her aswell, or for all the four of us to do it. But if my mom has the chance to see her, it will already make us happy. She needs to see her before she passes.
Anything, really, would be of use.
Thank you very much!
Ana Carolina Barboza
I was born in 1996 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. I grew up on the outskirts of Rio. Her house was a few meters away from mine, so she helped raising me whenever my parents were working.
We were poor, Rio was violent and the future very scary. Bad things happened all the time. So my parents thought raising their children in Europe was for the best and after years of saving and with help of certain family members, we were able to move to Portugal in 2004. It was very tough because we had a very united family.
When we arrived, both my parents had nothing. They had to build everything from scratch. We strived every single day - we still do - and It's not easy, It's very lonely. We always lived with just enough not to go hungry, but we could never put money on the side. Not even today. And, because of that, I haven't seen my grandma in 14 years. Our income simply doesn't allow us to save enough for an intercontinental trip.
We were told she had Alzheimer's about a year ago, but we're sure she was diagnosed beforehand because when we called her, I could tell she just very, very confused... and probably didn't recognize us. As the months went by, her condition worsened, as expected. Lask week, she had to be urgently taken to the hospital because of some complications, and my family was told she has up to 8 weeks to live, but that she could go any day. She was then sent home to die naturally.
My mom is very, very attached to my grandma. Completely. She calls my aunts, who take care of my grandma, at every oportunity. Her heart is shattered, because she knows she'll probably never see her mom again. She's been trying to save as much as she can, working as hard as ever in order to save, but it will never be enough to visit her on time. Our family can't help us. Nor do friends. So, I decided to create this.
Ideally, I'd love to see her aswell, or for all the four of us to do it. But if my mom has the chance to see her, it will already make us happy. She needs to see her before she passes.
Anything, really, would be of use.
Thank you very much!
Ana Carolina Barboza
Organizer
Ana Carolina
Organizer
Porto, Penedono, Portugal
