Build a Miracle Bus Driver Joaquin Fights Leukemia

Many of you know our amazing Build a Miracle bus driver, Joaquin. He has just been diagnosed with Leukemia.

He contracted Covid about a month ago and has had a fever ever since.

The doctors from his general healthcare just sent him home with antibiotics and never did much for him so we asked the team to get him to the best doctor they could to find out what was wrong because we know people can get much worse very quickly. 

The new doctors discovered he had Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia or "ALL" (see biopsy report in photos) and determined he is going to need to be hospitalized for a month while receiving the initial round of chemotherapy and other treatments. The problem is that his medical care will not cover it at this point, and he needs treatment now.

The cost of his hospital room for the month is about $4000 and then the treatments will be $10,000 -  $15,000 for that month and then it could be more after that depending on what follow up he will need. 

We figure we’re going to try and give him the best chance possible and are working on getting more information, but decided to set up a gofundme site for him because we know a lot of people up here  love him and the community would really be hit hard to lose him.

Joaquin is loved and treasured by everybody in the community.

He is one of the Build a Miracle "Pancake House" homeowners and became our full-time bus driver as of the day we acquired our own bus. He spends his days picking up kids and adults from our homes, throughout all the different communities and bringing them to the Community Center.  He is so kind to them and they all love him.

His wife Susana is always with him and she runs our whole daycare program.  If you have ridden to a Build Day in the Build A Miracle bus named “Susana, then Joaquin was your driver.

Joaquin LOVES the roles both he and his wife Susana play in helping residents of the poorest Tijuana neighborhoods access the boundless opportunities for education and community available at the BAM CC.

If you talk to him or his wife about it, they will start crying and tell you how thankful they are because Build a Miracle saved them and changed every part of their lives and their families lives.

This video of Joaquin playing and winning a game during a BAM Christmas celebration shows what a joyful human being he is!

Joaquin Celebrating Winning a Game 

As of today, February 21:

-Joaquin is in the hospital and has received his first round of chemotherapy.  It is likely he will stay in the hospital for the entire first phase of treatment which will last 3 to 4 weeks

- The entire treatment is expected to last 2 to 3 years

-An additional test has been done which will indicate how aggressive the leukemia is.  It will take some time as it has been sent to a lab in the USA

-The first month's costs is estimated at $4,000 (USD) for the hospital stay

-Treatment costs will be between $10,000 and $15,000

We will provide an update with results of the severity test mentioned above.

Joaquin and Susana and their 5 children are a true Build a Miracle success story who have and continue to serve others and inspire those who just need a positive role model and an invitation to seek education and community involvement as a path out of poverty.