AMALIA SANCHEZ*

Young woman struggles to keep promise to her mother

By LIZ BALMASEDA
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Seven years after leaving her native Mexico, Amalia Sanchez* had settled into the immigrant stream in Lake Worth, raising two children, selling homemade Mexican tamales while her husband worked as a landscaper. But one year ago, the delicate balance of her life was shattered when she learned her mother had been shot to death by a robber in Mexico. Amalia also learned her two young brothers had witnessed the violent death.
Fearing for their safety, Amalia arranged to have the boys slipped across the border and transported to Lake Worth, where they now live with her family in a small trailer home.
Not only did the boys, 9 and 11, arrive with post-traumatic issues, the older boy was losing his eyesight due to congenital glaucoma.
“He is timid, but he loves to study. He does his best to read although he’s lost vision in one eye,” says the 26-year-old Amalia, who had last seen her brothers when they were babies.
Amalia took the boy, Daniel, to the clinic at the Caridad Center in Boynton Beach, where the center’s ophthalmologist took on the case with a sense of urgency. Thanks to Dr. Howard Doyle’s intervention, a surgeon in Miami agreed to operate on Daniel in April. But a leakage of the surgical wound forced two more operations. Doctors say the boy will not regain the vision he has lost, but they’ve launched a valiant effort to save the vision he still has in his right eye.
Although the first surgery in Miami and the check-ups at the Caridad Center eye van were free, the other operations and additional care in Miami were not. Amalia keeps a stack of bills she’s unable to pay, ranging from $349 to $5,990.
The younger boy is still so traumatized by his mother’s murder that he cries out in his sleep at night. Still, he is seemingly better adjusted at school than his older brother. Amalia worries most about Daniel, who has fallen behind in school.
By taking in her brothers, Amalia has fulfilled a promise she made to her mother some years ago. Amalia had set her mother’s mind at ease after the passing of her father — yes, she said, she would take them in should anything happen. But she never expected her mother to die at age 45. She never expected that her maternal responsibilities would double overnight, that she would have to ration the food of her daughter and son, ages 7 and 3, to feed her brothers.
“There has been a tremendous financial impact on us, but this is my responsibility,” she says.
She can still remember her mother’s voice, just hours before her death. Amalia had wired a modest amount of money to her in Guerrero, and she had called to make sure her mother had received it.
“She said, ‘Thanks for the money. May God bless you,’” Amalia recalls. “And that was the last thing she said to me.”

* Amalia Sanchez is a pseudonym. She requested anonymity for herself and her family because they are undocumented.

AMALIA SANCHEZ’S WISH:

Financial assistance to help pay medical bills and household expenses. Tutoring for her brothers, ages 9 and 11. Clothes for boy, age 11, size 14-16, size 5 1/2 shoes. Clothes for boy, age 9, size 7-8. Clothes for boy, age 3, size 5-6. Clothes for girl, age 7, size 10-12. Grocery or department store gift card for household needs. The boys love soccer, and would enjoy any soccer-related toy, clothing or activity.

Nominated by: Caridad Center, Inc., 8645 Boynton Beach Blvd, Boynton Beach, FL 33472 (561) 737-6336
Mission: To improve the quality of life for children and families of the agricultural worker, laborer and under-served sector.

UPDATE

Amalia Sanchez*, a Lake Worth mother of two, inherited the care of her younger brothers after they witnessed their mother’s murder in Mexico.

But with the responsibility of raising the boys, ages 9 and 11, Sanchez also took on the duty of handling their traumas and illnesses. The older boy, Daniel, suffers from congenital glaucoma, a condition which has caused him to lose his vision in one eye.

Although the boy has been cared for by doctors at the Caridad Center in Boynton Beach, which nominated the family, the cost of recurring operations and follow-up medical care has piled up.

The good news is that help - in the form of cash and gift cards - has arrived for the family, says Barbara Vilaseca, the Caridad Center’s executive director.

Sanchez says her brothers are still struggling at school and she’s still hoping someone will donate tutoring sessions for them. As for their medical and emotional condition, she says the elder boy is scheduled for a checkup in January. The younger boy appears to be doing better. He appears to be having fewer nightmares at night. She says a therapist has started coming to the home to counsel him.

“He still has some issues,” says Sanchez, 26, “but he seems to be doing a little bit better.”