Also today, I made contact with the Cascade Medical Team based on a lead I got from Nancy Hughes while we were networking in Antigua last week. They are a team of doctors affiliated with HELPS International and they basically transport a hospital full of people and equipment down to Guatemala for a week or so every year, to help people that are too poor to afford health care. When she mentioned them, it remeinded me of a guy in our town that I met about a month ago. His name is Francisco, and he mentioned in passing that he has been blind in one eye for a few years; how he tells it, he noticed his vision in one of his eyes getting hazy around the edges, then over the course of a few months, if just got worse until he could no longer see out of that eye. But now, he says, his good eye started the same problem about a month ago. He told me this with maintained calm, but I can tell he is pretty terrified that he will be completely blind in his remaining eye in a few more months. “I probably shouldn’t drive my truck anymore,” he said, “but it’s how I make a living. I need to keep doing it as long as I can.” Life for him in Guatemala will be pretty tough as a blind man.

I am not a doctor, but it sounds like cataracts to me. And if that’s the case, he is going to be blind. But I emailed the Cascade Medical Team, and they say they are bringing eye surgeons with them when they come in February. They asked me to get Francisco’s full name, and to find a way to get him to Sololá (in the south) where they are setting up for surgery from March 1-9. “If we set it up beforehand, he can just skip the line,” they said. So, Emily and I went to talk to Francisco today. We explained everything, and reiterated that nothing was for sure yet. Nonetheless, he seemed pretty overcome with hope. He and his family are going to discuss amongst themselves how to fund the trip to Sololá.

I really feel like if I can help this guy out, then my time here will be worthwhile even if I get nothing else accomplished.