Support Sarah Luciana as she fights for her life

Hi, my name is Sara.

As many of you know, I spent my senior year of high school as an exchange student to Sucre, Bolivia. I continue to stay in touch with my host family and many Bolivian friends. This fundraiser is for Sarah Luciana, the 15-year-old granddaughter of my Bolivian host sister.

On April 7, 2023, precious Sarah Luciana slipped and fell more than 80 feet from a cliff near Santa Cruz, Bolivia while on a hike with her grandmother and cousins. Family members and rescue personnel rushed her to the hospital in Santa Cruz where she was put on a respirator in a medically induced coma.

Sarah suffered internal bleeding and a damaged spleen. More significantly, the fall caused her brain to swell, putting pressure on her brain stem so that she was unable to breathe on her own. A neurosurgeon removed a piece of her skull to alleviate the pressure. After several weeks, the doctors determined that she could not stay on the respirator, so they inserted a tracheostomy tube.

Sarah Luciana remains in intensive care and is receiving ongoing respiratory therapy. We were hopeful that she could have the tracheostomy tube removed soon if she could master breathing on her own. However, her brain began swelling again a few days ago and she had yet another surgery on May 30 to relieve pressure on the brain. She is currently paralyzed on her left side, although her doctors think she will regain movement on this side once she is able to breathe on her own.

Sarah Luciana is the head of her sophomore class at Maryknoll High School in Cochabamba, Bolivia. She is quiet, studious, methodical, organized, loves music and drawing Sarah’s dream is to become a medical doctor someday.

Sarah’s medical costs are overwhelming; approximately 7,000 Bolivianos (over $1,000 USD) a day. Her school friends and family have been raising money in Bolivia, but it’s not nearly enough to pay all the medical bills, which now amount to over $60,000 USD and continue to accumulate daily.

Your support whether financial, or through prayers and loving healing thoughts, means the world to me and my beautiful host family.