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Guatemalan woman gets life-saving chemo in Valley
POLAND
Vilma Jerez came to the Mahoning Valley to receive the ultimate Christmas present – life-saving chemotherapy that is not available in her native Guatemala.
Through the auspices of the Austintown-based Mission of Love, for which Vilma and her family are volunteers in Tecpan, Guatemala, and other Good Samaritans, Vilma and her daughter, Isabel, flew here to receive the needed chemotherapy at the Hope Center for Cancer Care.
Vilma, 48, was diagnosed near the end of November with hairy cell leukemia.
The immediate problem was how to get the needed chemotherapy to treat the cancer.
Isabel contacted Kathleen Price, founder and director of Mission of Love, and asked for help. Price put out the word on the organization’s website, and events were put in motion.
Tom and Dr. Kathie Nelson of Poland offered their home in Poland to Vilma and Isabel during the chemotherapy treatments and weeks after during which Vilma recovered and had lab work done.
The Nelsons have been on numerous Mission of Love missions to Mexico and Guatemala and became acquainted with the Jerez family during missions in Guatemala.
Initially, Vilma’s white blood-cell count was low after the chemotherapy. But lab tests last week showed improvement, and she was well enough to start home Christmas Eve and arrive in time to be with her husband, Bryon, on Christmas Day.
Others who helped Vilma include Steve DeGenaro and his wife, Judge Mary DeGenaro, of the 7th District Court of Appeals, who donated the Jerezes’ airline tickets, and the Hope Center, which made its facilities available.
People who wish to donate to help Vilma can visit www.gofundme.com/vilma2015 and follow the directions.
The website fundraising account was set up by Ben and Christy Nelson, the Nelsons’ son and daughter-in-law, of Princeton, N.J. Their daughter, Megan McConnell, lives in Boardman.
“We would like to send her home with some money so she can pay for lab work and doctor’s visits and transportation to get back and forth,” Price said.
Symptoms of Vilma’s cancer were unexplained bone pain and weight loss, causing Isabel to go to one of her university professors for advice on what to do. He steered her to Dr. Edgar Moran in Guatemala City, also involved in Mission of Love projects, who diagnosed Vilma with hairy cell leukemia.
It is a rare, slow-growing cancer of the blood in which the bone marrow makes too many B cells, a type of white blood cell that fights infection. The excess B cells are abnormal and look “hairy” under a microscope, according to the Mayo Clinic website.
It is treatable and curable, said Dr. Nelson, an internist with the ValleyCare Medical Group of Ohio.
Price was on a Mission of Love project in Guatemala when she learned of Vilma’s problem, and accompanied her and Isabel on the flight to Pittsburgh, arriving Dec. 6.
Once here, it became a whirlwind for Vilma.
At 7:30 a.m. Dec. 7, she had an appointment at the Hope Center. Ninety minutes later, she received her first chemotherapy infusion, the first of two-hour sessions for five-consecutive days.
Isabel, who acted as translator for her mother, said Vilma was in shock at how rapidly events proceeded.
She experienced nausea and fatigue from the chemotherapy, but the pain in her bones went away after two days.
“I am very happy because I am better now. I beat cancer,” Vilma said with a huge smile.
But Vilma, who has never been away from her husband for more than a couple of days, said she is “very anxious” to get home.
“Kathie and Tom said they would treat us as queens, and it was more than that,” she said through her daughter.
Sadly, Vilma’s father died of a heart attack the second day she was in America.
While Vilma got the help she needed to fight cancer, there is an unbelievable need among the indigenous people, Mayan Indians, who live in the mountains around Tecpan, Price said.
“That’s why we have airlifts to Guatemala, to support hospitals and doctors,” she said, adding the hospitals there lack basic supplies such as bandages, gauze, sutures and wheelchairs.
The Jerez family are volunteers on the ground where the Mission of Love, along with local residents, have built medical and dental clinics and support orphanages in the area.
“They have become family. The people they introduce me to are the poorest of the poor,” Price said.
The Nelsons also are part of the Mission of Love family.
Tom, a financial adviser with Ameriprise Financial in Boardman, admits he is not handy and doesn’t build anything, but says he “hangs out” with Price.
“We’re a team. I’m the organizer. Tom is the touching hand. ... He is the love messenger,” Price said.
During the five days they are on Guatemala missions, Dr. Nelson sees up to 500 people, an average of 100 per day, for everything ranging from arthritis to diabetes and high blood pressure and kids with asthma.
“I take the time to go on the Mission of Love trips for the same reason we wanted to bring Vilma and Isabel here: It’s the people. They give us more than we give them,” Dr. Nelson said.
“I thank God for the experience. We come back home with gratitude and compassion. It makes you realize how fortunate we are to be able to get the treatment we need. We are blessed to be able to help. They are wonderful people,” she said of the Guatemalans.
“I am thankful for the Mission of Love community and how generous it is,” Dr. Nelson said.