Rosario's Paralysis and Suffering

Here is Rosario’s story,

with photos below:

Rosario Orozco Lopez is a young woman with a smile that is warmer and brighter than the glorious Mexican sun, but she is living her life as a paraplegic, in extreme poverty, confined to her bed, and trapped in an environment without the ability to be moved or properly cared for.

At the age of 19, Rosario was struck by a car near her home in Manzanillo, Mexico, and was paralyzed from the chest down. Now at age 23, she lives with her family, in a tiny corrugated tin shack and concrete structure without glass in the windows, and cannot purchase the most basic of needs. Rosario desperately needs basic funds for survival. She needs medical supplies and medications to treat her ever-present bed sores,  a proper home care hospital bed, an adequate wheelchair to navigate in sandy soil, a laptop and internet to connect her to the classes she wants to take to further her education, and weekly physical therapy.   Rosario's family has no car to transport her to the doctor, so paying a taxi is their only option. All of this requires money, of which this family has very little, if any at all. 

Here is the back story of how I found Rosario:

My name is John Land Le Coq and I'm the CEO and Founder of an outdoor brand called Fishpond. I'm writing and telling you this story about Rosario and our trusted friendshp, as I plan to set up a bank account in Mexico and act as a trustee of all funds raised to manage the process to get her the urgent and critical care she desperately requires.   When I visited her in January 2016, she had not been out of her bed in more than 14 months.  By sharing this story, her photos, and by all of you donating whatever you can, we can all become connected to someone beautiful and so much in need for the things we all take for granted.  Let's share in this process of making a difference for one person, and her family. 
 
In April of 2014, I was walking through Mira Mar, a small village near Manzanillo, Mexico, when I spotted a donkey on the street. As an iconic metaphor for the simple life in Mexico, I thought this donkey would make a great subject for a painting, so I returned the following day with my easel and paints. The donkey was nowhere to be found. After several inquiries in the stores that lined the cobblestone streets, a person told me where the donkey lived — that he was owned by a very poor man who cut and collected firewood in the dry mountains along the coast.

After tireless searching, I eventually found the long-eared donkey, laden with a heavy load of wood next to a small tin shack. I talked with the owner for several minutes and arranged to have him bring the donkey to the location where I wanted to paint. After several hours in the hot sun, the donkey’s owner, a poor farmer, told me about his life, and his family, including his daughter, Rosario, who was hit by a car at an early age and paralyzed from the chest down. When I finished my painting, he invited me to meet Rosario and his family. What I came upon ripped at my heart — here was a beautiful young girl lying in a broken bed, in a cement room, with no windows and no door. I knew that I needed to tell her story and raise funds to help her family give her the most basic of comforts.

Rosario told me that her Rosary Beads on her bed post are where her prayers are heard. It is my sincere wish that my friends and their friends help answer her prayers in the form of much needed funding to buy a proper bed, medical supplies to prevent life-threatening bed sores, a wheel chair, and access to the internet and a laptop. Just the most essential needs to provide her with comfort and care, and hope that through her continued education, she might find a way out of the cement room.

Thank goodness Rosario's donkey led me into her life. 

Thank you for anything you can do to help improve Rosario's life. Rather than this being a solo journey of supporting her needs, I want to share Rosario’s story with all of you and kindly ask you to help improve her life, so that we can together make a difference. Any amount will help.  I will manage the funds to get her the medical assistance needed, and keep all of of you informed of this shared process and all money spent.