Tech changing child cancer detection (S.L.P.)

Leonardo is a 10-year-old AMANC child from the community "Los Ángeles" in the municipality of Rioverde, located in the middle of the state of San Luis Potosí, 170 km from the capital city.He currently lives with his mother and three sisters aged 18, 20 and 26, his father does not attend much at home because his work absorbs much of the day.

Leo does not have relatives in this city, since his family comes from Tamaulipas.  He is currently in the fifth grade of primary school and is very good at math and science, his condition does not prevent him from having a good school education. 

Leonardo was diagnosed about 2 years ago with retinoblastoma, a cancerous tumor that develops in the retina, which occurs more frequently in children under fifteen years of age. For almost two years, Leonardo has arrived at AMANC, where he receives help with his medications, dental services, psychological help, accommodation and even classes to avoid that he does not fall behind or lower his grades. This happened thanks to the approach of our social workers to her mother, offering her our help, which she received in the best way from the first day she visited our facilities. 

Leonardo dreams of traveling to many places and driving a big bus to take his mom to visit new places, but his main goal is to help his family and help people who have cancer like him.  At AMANC we are very willing to continue helping Leonardo and all our children to get ahead and to fulfill their dreams because hope is the last thing that is lost.

When Karina was going to study the first year of secondary school from Guaxcuaco -where she lives- to Tamán, where the technical secondary school No. 37 is, she took a vehicle in which she traveled approximately 20 minutes. It is in this journey that he met Indalecio, who was a driver of one of these vehicles, ten years older than her. At that time, she was 13 years old and while he was driving, they had the opportunity to talk ... love arose ... A year went by, it was then that Indalecio proposed to go live with him and she accepted. A short time later, Juan was born as a result of that love, when Karina was barely 15 years old.

 Her life passed peacefully, happy with her husband and her child when one day, at 17, Karina felt that she had a discomfort in the gum, thought it was just a canker sore, but the doctor saw her pale and ordered two medical studies He had to carry them out in Tamazunchale, which is an hour's drive from his house in Guaxcuaco. The same day the results were delivered, and the doctor told Indalecio the seriousness of Karina's physical condition and told her that they had to transfer them to the State Capital, to the Central Hospital to be attended. Once in this city, Karina was given a bone marrow aspirate and was diagnosed with two types of Leukemia at the same time: Monoblastic and Myeloblastic. Its severity was such that the doctors feared that the night would not pass. Perhaps if they had had the opportunity to know the signs and symptoms of cancer before, their health would not have been so compromised.She was hospitalized for two months and during that time, when personnel from the Social Work area of AMANC SLP learned about the case, they went to meet her and offered her, her mother and husband our support. 

Fortunately, Karina is responding well to medical treatment and although she has to leave her little Juan in the care of her mother-in-law because of her constant visits to San Luis Potosí to be cared for, she has high hopes of recovering her health very soon so that she can dedicate all of her time to her little son. 

Karina is a great young woman: intelligent, kind and smiling. She helped us give talks about the importance of blood donation among students from different universities to support one of the campaigns that AMANC SLP organizes three times a year in which it is wanted, as well as raising awareness, obtaining many units of that vital component for the children and adolescents we serve. Her testimony impacts among the young people who listen to her, because they realize that we are all exposed to contracting this disease and, that we can face our challenges in life with the courage, attitude and hope that Karina has.