Impact Report

Hilda

Location: Hospital Emma Romero, Tegucigalpa, Honduras

In a dusty haze, the myriad, tangled alleyways of Tegucigalpa’s poor barrios seem to ramble on forever. Narrow dirt roads wind randomly, lined with countless tiny makeshift houses interspersed with every possible kind of small personal enterprise needed for survival. The residents here are poor, many rarely leave these neighborhoods. Life here is a world apart from the more modern hustle and bustle of the rest of the city.

Hilda, 53, lives in the barrio called, coincidently, Estados Unidos (in English - “United States”). Her house is constructed of a mixture of leftover building supplies, bricks, concrete blocks, cement, wood and aluminum. Very basic - but lovingly tended, it is home to her and her husband Randolf and their three children, now ages 19,13 and11. Randolf is a security guard but makes only the equivalent of $290.00 US dollars a month. Hilda used to work as a seamstress to help make ends meet.

Five and a half years ago, on mother’s day, Hilda felt a lump in her breast. Her mother urged her to see a doctor but Hilda didn’t want to pay for a doctor’s visit and put it off. Soon though, the lump felt sore and she scheduled an appointment. An ultrasound followed by a biopsy detected breast cancer.

The news was frightening to all of Hilda’s family but the most affected was her youngest daughter. She was confused by the hospital and her mother’s absence from home.

Her treatment consisted of four rounds of chemotherapy followed by a mastectomy. A month later her treatment resumed with twenty-five rounds of radiation. With no metastasis, she was then prescribed the established five-year course of tamoxifen, to prevent recurrence.

She has now completed this entire procedure and is healthy and cancer free. It has not been easy but Hilda has learned some things in the process. She tells a story about her family’s amazement at the way she handled the ordeal. They were worried sick, yet she was sick and not worried. She found a strength she didn’t know she had. She also found that there is hope for recovery even if you are poor. Her family could not afford to pay for expensive cancer treatment. Yet through the programs at the Hospital Emma Romera and the donations they receive from the National Cancer Coalition of cancer chemotherapy drugs and adjunct medications she was able to get receive excellent care and first world treatment.

She is grateful. Her smile is broad as she holds her grandson, Joel and states, “I love that medicine! I’m so thankful for the donations – they’ve been my savior”

But she’s not the only grateful one. Her husband and her children are very aware of the gift of life they have received. Hilda’s youngest daughter can hardly quit smiling. Now eleven, she will never take her mother for granted.

Through our partner hospital and donations from supporters, like you, NCC delivered cancer chemotherapy drugs and medications so Hilda was able to get receive excellent care and first world treatment.

Breast Cancer - Honduras - NCC Cares