Emerita de Jesus Zambrano
Imagine living for ten years with a debilitating and excruciatingly painful condition that prevented you from working, having full mobility, and any semblance of a normal life. Now, imagine that the barrier between this reality and a healthy, productive life was a mere $700.
Meet Emerita de Jesus Zambrano, a 64 year old mom of seven children from Yamaguare, a rural community in Honduras. During childbirth, Emerita suffered from a total uterine prolapse (the uterus descending into the vaginal canal) resulting in constant pain, infections, and an inability to control urine from leaking. The leaking urine has further led to constant itching, scars, and an embarrassing condition that makes it painful to walk. This is the nightmare that Emerita has endured for the past ten years.
Emerita personally approached Global Brigades during a Medical Brigade in her community in August, 2010. Since that time, Medical Brigades Director Dr. Jenny Narjera has worked with Emerita in receiving the care she needs. Between river routes being impassable and hospital worker strikes, Emerita’s situation proved frustrating. However, Dr. Jenny persisted in her dedication to Emerita, and took her to a private clinic where a doctor agreed to waive the surgical cost and only charge $700 for the anesthesiologist and nights in the hospital.
After ten years of suffering this is where Emerita de Jesus Zambrano personally needed help from donors so that she wouldn’t have to continue living with this painful condition! Global Brigades’ community of brigaders, friends, and supporters helped spread the word and were able to raise $730 in less than 24 hours!
Update on Emerita’s Care – April 2011
Global Brigades’ Patient Referral System is thrilled to announce that Emerita Jesus Zambrano has successfully undergone surgery for her prolapsed uterus and is doing very well!
On Monday, April 11th, the Global Brigades team took Emerita to the Baptist Hospital in Guimaca, Honduras where the organization Baptist Medical Dental International brought in a team of gynecologists and surgeons to perform urgent procedures on impoverished patients in need of critical care. There were no complications and the procedure went very well. Emerita was in recovery by noon that day.
Our team has since gone back to her home to follow up and have a few words with her. On May 17th, we paid a visit to Emerita’s community and we were happy to find her up and well. In fact, we all shared a good chuckle when Emerita demanded that we let her put on a different shirt before taking a picture with her.
In a discussion with Dr. Soriano, Emerita happily exclaimed that she has been feeling great and is so happy to be able to do things that had given her trouble before, such as simply walking and going up stairs. She is very thankful to have received this care and expressed how grateful she is for the people who helped give her this care. Emerita can move about freely and no longer is bothered by pain and discomfort.
Global Brigades sincerely thanks all who made this surgery a reality for Emerita. Your extraordinary kindness and generosity has helped to change this woman’s life.