Recently, Jackeline took Alejandra to a naturalist doctor. They prescribed some medicine that helped increase Alejandra’s appetite but she still isn’t gaining weight.

Then, Jackeline took her to the national hospital located in Guatemala City. After more testing and speaking with the hospital’s director, they learned she tested positive for myelofibrosis. It is an extremely rare form of cancer that affects bone marrow. Looking back at her symptoms, it is now very clear why she has been struggling to gain weight, has a low red blood cell count, has anemia, and is very tired. For more information, here is a link from the Mayo Clinic.

There is no medical cure for this, but there are treatment options to manage it. We are waiting to hear more from the doctors about the options available and what they will cost.

As if this wasn’t enough stress for the family, Jackeline also learned this week that Jairo failed 4 classes in school. She said her first thought was, “How can I pay for his school on top of all this?” As a ministry, we have told all students and their parents that if they fail a bimester, they are responsible for paying for the next bimester’s worth of tuition until they pull their grades back up.

Knowing that financial hardship has come upon the family and even if they could get together the money to pay for his tuition these months, we would be working to find ways to help with the ongoing medical costs. We devised a plan to have Jairo help out around the ministry center to work for the cost of his tuition, but also as a way to keep an eye on him and make sure he is doing his work. His teachers told us that he simply hasn’t been handing in his homework. We are wondering if this is a result of the attention Alejandra has been receiving as of late due to her illness. After Easter, Olga will meet with Jackeline to get her opinion on that plan so that she doesn’t have to worry about Jairo’s schooling on top of all that is happening with Alejandra.

Astoundingly, Alejandra passed all her classes this bimester! Even though she missed a few weeks’ worth of time from being in the hospital, she made sure she made up her work and submitted everything that was due.