Jose needs help with clean drinking water.

Hi Everyone,

There is an update on FA52, Jose Umberto Alonso Simeon. He is the son of
Celestina Alonso Simeón and Family (FA49)

Celestina is elderly and cares for her blind husband and her son Jose.

38 year old Jose Umberto Alonso Simeon has been battling cancer for almost a year. He has to travel to the capital every 15 days to get the chemotherapy for the tumors in his neck and abdomen, and the treatment and transportation have put his family in an enormous amount of debt. Doctors have warned him about how important it is to drink clean water while he is weakened from the chemo, but Jose and his family don't have a water filter. They are currently borrowing one from Elena's relatives, but her nieces and nephews keep getting sick from the unfiltered water, and they have told Elena and Jose that they need the filter back.

His family, which consists of his wife, Elena, and his 18 month old daughter, Irma, lives in a single room near Jose's parents, brother, and two young nephews. The entire family is very poor, and they can't afford to support Jose and his wife and child. To earn a bit of money, Elena makes beaded jewelry to sell, but she doesn't earn nearly enough. A generous Mayan Families donor sent Jose and his family a mattress a few months ago, but their bed was so old that it could not support the mattress--it bowed so badly under the weight that they have since been forced to stop using it. We would like to get Jose, Elena, and Irma (all 3 share one bed) a new bedframe to support their new mattress, so that Jose's many hours in bed will be a little more comfortable.

To read more about Jose or to help him and his family, please visit:

http://familyaidprogram.blogspot.com/2011/03/jose-needs-clean-water-during-chemo.html

or

http://mayanfamiliesconnectionguatemala.blogspot.com/2011/03/jose-umberto-alonso-simeon-needs-clean.html

Thank you for any help you can give them.

Bonnie