We all knew Francisco. A neat little kid who always came to our big shower days and regularly attended our Bible Club. A tragic thing happened a few months ago. An accident threw him into a telephone pole head first, crushing his skull. His father took him to the Red Cross more dead than alive, where they quickly started surgery.
The Doctors told his family that while they were operating on him, he actually died twice on the table. As a result of his accident he has lost an eye, the full movement of his right arm and has a large ugly dent (depression) in his skull, where only thin skin covers his brain. Thank God for a real miracle, his mind is O.K.
Francisco is now a twenty year old. When I first saw him I couldn't recognize him until I asked him to turn his head.
His family contacted us few weeks ago to ask for help in getting a plate put into Francisco's skull. We know them to be honest and very poor. (Father goes to the cemeteries and sings for funerals getting a little money from tips.) The estimated cost of the operation at the General Hospital would run over $1,000 dollars. Very inexpensive by our standards but an impossible cost for them. Tijuana's General Hospital is inexpensive, but for years has a very bad reputation
We said we would help if they could come up with most of the money. They begged and borrowed all the money they could from friends and relatives and came up with about $600.
Today we assured them that we would help make it happen. Francisco gave me an especially tight hug for his "Christmas present."
He wants to be normal so bad.
He's a little afraid of the coming surgery and for good reason. Recently Tijuana's General Hospital has been rocked by a scandal. They have been accused of letting some of their patients die then selling their body parts to more affluent Hospitals in Mexico.
Francisco and his family would appreciate your prayers.
