A Silent Epidemic

In the heart of rural Guatemala, a silent epidemic is claiming lives, leaving families devastated and communities grappling with the harsh reality of a preventable disease. Diabetes, a global health concern, has taken a heavy toll on the population, particularly in remote areas where access to medical care is scarce.

In the rustic village of Santa Catarina, nestled amidst the lush landscapes of rural Guatemala, Pascuala succumbed to the complications of diabetes in November of 2023, leaving her family grieving and her children without their anchor. Pascuala’s healthcare (or rather, lack of) journey reflects the broader struggle faced by many in Guatemala, where the effects of this non-curable disease are a growing concern with significant consequences.

Pascuala relied on FFF for the treatment of her healthcare concerns

Guatemala is facing an alarming increase in diabetes cases, a trend mirrored in many low and middle-income countries. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an estimated 8.1% of the Guatemalan population aged 18 and older was living with diabetes in 2020. After years of working in the mountains of Guatemala, our educated guess is that these numbers are significantly higher in rural pockets of the highlands; undiagnosed cases of diabetes can’t be counted in statistics.

The scarcity of medical resources and the economic hardship on families make it challenging for rural Guatemalans to receive timely diagnoses, proper treatment, and ongoing management of their diabetes. Pascuala relied on Finding Freedom Through Friendship for her disease management: funds for injectable Insulin were not available in her economically fragile household.

Here is what we wrote on her records when FFF took Pascuala into our program in 2013:

An extreme diabetic who was found to have blood sugar levels above 1000 when accepted into FFF. Medial care started, daily injections and diabetic teaching began. Has a husband but was taken into the FFF Widow’s Program since he is only able to secure employment occasionally and there is not enough money for food, school fees, and no medical care possible with his income. Pascuala considered to be near death at the time of acceptance, was diagnosed with UTI, yeast infection, gastritis, neuropathy, nausea, ovarian pain, and possible kidney damage. Blood sugars continue to run over 500 on oral Metformin.

Critical Needs:

Medical care, Insulin, antibiotics, school scholarship for children, Vitamins, filtered water, frequent visits to local doctors for blood sugar monitoring, Diabetic disease management teaching, urine dipsticks, and nutritious food staples.

Pascuala

Our journey of walking alongside Pascuala while she fought her disease was a lengthy one. After being admitted to FFF in 2013, our facilitators delivered monthly food staples to her resource-poor family. Diabetes is a challenging and expensive disease to treat in any country, and in Guatemala, it is no less so. Pascuala’s care cost FFF $15,000: doctor visits, injectable insulin, food, and hospitalizations were frequent, sometimes urgent, and necessary. Government-mandated lockdowns during the pandemic left her without access to our food donations or medical care for eight months, damaging her already fragile kidneys beyond repair.

Pascuala was not a widow, so deciding to include her in our program was difficult. The expense and duration of her care essentially kept another widow out of FFF’s program. Friends of our organization donated insulin, which we hand-carried to Pasucala during our international flights. Our volunteer U.S.-based physician offered free medical advice and funding. Pascuala’s daughter was featured in our documentary. Our facilitators sent monthly photos when delivering our services, and she in turn gave us lovely Guatemalan crafts items. Pascuala felt like a friend in our hearts even when we were not present in her home. As Martin Luther King once said, “Faith is taking the first step before seeing the whole staircase.” We didn’t know where our relationship with Pascuala would lead in 2013, but refusing to take the first step with her was not an option.

Finding Freedom Through Friendship started in 2009, and this wasn’t the first time we lost a participant to a preventable disease.

https://www.freedomthroughfriendship.org/catarinas-health-improving-in-guatemala/

Manuela died of untreated breast cancer; Nadia passed from colon cancer; Maria died suddenly of a heart attack, and Catarina died of tuberculosis. Twelve children in our small circle of participants were left behind to find their way in communities without social services, foster care, or counseling opportunities. But Pascuala’s passing, after a decade of caring for her, felt raw and unjust. Without a place to land, rage festers. Our team knew that Guatemala struggles with significant inequities in health care access, but the knowledge that this concern is on the agenda of future political platforms didn’t bring peace.

Pascuala endured a prolonged illness and significant pain; there is a sense of relief that she is no longer suffering. But this doesn’t diminish the sadness of the loss. When our team walks the village paths she used to walk, her spirit will travel with us. The last words she spoke to us, in the room she would soon die in, are now just a vapor of thought, much like the mist in the impossibly high Guatemalan mountains:

It is unbearable to think that Pascuala will only be remembered by a few of her family and neighbors and the occasional viewer of our Guatemalan documentary (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7CicwEcjq6RLUgpFtusnhg) She deserved to be memorialized for her bravery, resilience, and determination to live a meaningful life despite her health challenges. Perhaps now she is.