Help us to keep him Alive

Greetings. My name is Iraima Vega and my husband is called Javier Rodríguez. Both of us are 36 years old and live in Maracaibo, Venezuela.

We are here today because Javier suffers from Diabetes Mellitus Type 1 since he was 5 years old, disease that his mother used to suffer from too, and also his younger brother Carlos was diagnosed with. When Javier was 9, his mom, who was a pathologist, had the first double transplant (pancreas and kidney) made in Latin America, but days after it, she died because of complications from it.

Diabetes Mellitus Type 1 (insulin dependent) is a disease that affects the sugar level in the blood, and insulin is what levels it. Not injecting the insulin, Javier can suffer from severe dehydration, ketoacidosis (when high level of sugar in the blood becomes a poison, producing fatigue, weakness and eventually heart failure), renal failure with need of dialysis and sight complications among others.

This is why Javier has to inject insulin 4 times a day, using 2 different types of insulin, Humulin N and Humalog, among other types of medicines like Glucophage, Atorvastatin and Enalapril, these last ones he has to take because of the deterioration from his illness, which he has suffered from for more than 30 years. Because of the difficult situation in Venezuela, there have been times he has been forced to use types of insulin that do not match his condition, and even taken the risk of using expired insulin, because they are very difficult to find in our country.

Our intention is to raise US $ 10.000 to help Javier recieve his medicines from foreing countries. The daily fear of lack of medicines and absent access to basic food basket products risk his health. This is why we approached one of the most popular newspapers in our city to show the situation, which does not only affect us, but all high cost disease patients in my country, which you can check here http://www.laverdad.com/zulia/117412-irse-o-morir-el-drama-de-los-insulinodependientes.html

Thank you all for your collaborations. From tiny grains of sand a great mountain can be built. God bless you all.

Iraima and Javier