Strangers reunite dying teen with Guatemalan family

[t0dd]

Source: CNN

Eighteen-year-old Juan Gonzalez was dying alone in hospital, thousand of miles from his Guatemalan home. He was separated from the family he had traveled to the United States to help support.



Diagnosed with a chronically weak heart, without much money and lacking resources, Gonzalez seemed bound to die without ever seeing his parents again.

That changed after CNN aired a story about his plight.

Thanks to the help of a compassionate hospital staff, a U.S. congressman and a concerned community, Gonzalez has been reunited with his parents for what may be the last time. Video Watch Gonzalez make his tearful plea »

Like many undocumented workers, Gonzalez came to the United States last fall to provide some financial help for his family, who had fallen on hard times back in Guatemala. He took a job as a dishwasher in Rome, Georgia, making about $250 a week.

Then, in November, his heart gave out. Gonzalez has been in and out of the hospital for seven months.

Doctors diagnosed Gonzalez with dilated cardiomyopathy, which means his heart muscle is very weak.

Dr. Frank Stegall, Gonzalez's cardiologist, said the Guatemalan teen's heart pumps only 20 percent of the blood a healthy heart should.

But as Gonzalez's heart failed him, he opened up the hearts of others.

Stegall and the staff at Rome's Redmond Regional Medical Center were inspired by Gonzalez's attitude and courage and set out to reunite the dying teen with his parents. They contacted U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Georgia.

Gingrey got the State Department involved in expediting visas for Pascual and Maria Gonzalez, Juan's parents.

Delta Air Lines donated tickets to Atlanta, and the Gonzalezes boarded a plane for the first time, bound for Georgia to see their dying son.
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Gonzalez has vowed to fight to the end, but doctors say his prognosis isn't good. With no money, Stegall says, it will be tough for the teen to get a heart transplant.

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/05/22/dying.son/index.html

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****************************WHY THE HELL****************************

does CNN and the media make this into a sentimental story about a boy's final wish and fail to mention where people can make donations to!!!!!!!!! He can be saved! He needs to receive a heart transplant. That requires money. Stop making this into a fucking story about a boy's final wish to be reunited with his parents and tell the public what they need to do to SAVE HIM! Unbelievable...

[lamp_shade]

1. This thread from yesterday has an address....

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5699132

[t0dd]

2. Thanks.. I posted it.. lol

I'm just mad CNN doesn't post the address in their main articles! What the hell!

[lamp_shade]

4. Oops. Well, at least you know I read your posts.

:hi:

[Tansy_Gold]

3. HOW MANY OTHERS LIKE HIM ARE THERE????????

Oh, goddess but this story makes my blood boil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One young man, one dying young man, gets his story told on the tv and everyone moves heaven and earth to reunite him with his family. Funds are set up to pay for a heart transplant, and I suppose the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars his lifetime care will require if an organ is found and the surgery is successful

FUCK THIS! FUCK THIS ALL TO HELL!


THERE ARE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE IN THIS COUNTRY -- I WON'T EVEN LIMIT IT TO "AMERICANS" -- WHO HAVE NO HEALTH CARE. YOUNG, OLD, WORKING, DISABLED, UNEMPLOYED, IT DOESN'T MATTER. THEY ARE JUST AS "DESERVING" OF MEDICAL TREATMENT AS THIS YOUNG MAN. WHERE IS REP. GINGREY'S COMPASSION FOR THEM? IS HE GONNA VOTE FOR UNIVERSAL SINGLE-PAYER HEALTH CARE FOR ALL AMERICANS??? I SINCERELY DOUBT IT.

We shouldn't need calls for charity like this. Everyone in this country should have access to any and all necessary medical care, treatment, and medication. Period.


Tansy Gold

[t0dd]

5. Thank you.

You make a wonderful point. I was more concerned with pointing out the irresponsibility of the media in reporting stories like this, but you are absolutely right. The true travesty is our disgraceful for-profit health care system. I will fight to the very end to make sure universal health care is achieved in this country. In the mean time, despite their being millions of Americans in similar predicaments to Juan, I have to address each of them as well as I can. This story in particular destroyed me, and I want to do whatever I can to save him.

[Kali]

6. a happy ending to this story (and others like it)

would do more to defeat terrorism than 1000 tortured "detainees"