Disease, bills taking toll on woman

Posted on Thu, Jan. 04, 2007

Disease, bills taking toll on woman

MAURA POSSLEY
Bradenton Herald Staff Writer

PALMETTO, FL - When Juliana Mateo was forced out of Manatee Memorial Hospital because she is an illegal immigrant, she skipped two dialysis treatments for her chronic kidney disease.

That way, her condition would be so grave another hospital would have to admit her.

"We were afraid that she wasn't going to make it," said friend Adriana Cerrillo.

But she did, and now the 28-year-old mother of three is prepared to go through it again.

In September, Mateo was forced from Manatee Memorial in Bradenton. Though first offered a plane ticket to Guatemala, Mateo refused, aware of the country's lack of vacancy at public hospitals and the lack of money in her wallet to pay for a private hospital there.

She skipped treatments to be admitted at Tampa General through a state law that requires hospitals to provide care to patients who check into the emergency room.

Three times a week, Cerrillo drives Mateo from the home she shares with her mother in Palmetto to Tampa for dialysis. A hospital spokeswoman declined to comment on Mateo, but Cerrillo said the hospital told Mateo she could receive dialysis for three months.

That was in September. Now she must again prepare for the day she may be forced to leave and bear the cost of treatment.

Mateo has little money saved from life as a farmworker in Homestead. She cannot work and cannot qualify for health insurance because of her status. Friends say if she goes back to Guatemala, she'll die.

Mateo's mother brought her to America in 1992. Years before, her father was slain by guerillas when she was 2.

Her children - Jose, 10, Selmo, 6, and 3-year-old Fabiola - are American citizens and spend their days hoping their mother recovers and cherishing the days they have with her.

Though she suffers physically, Mateo's greatest pain, friends say, is the thought of her children losing their mother. Her eldest, Jose, sobbed through the telephone Wednesday when asked about his mom.

"Please don't let them take my mom off dialysis," he said. "I don't want her to die. That's why I'm talking right now. That's all."

She has received thousands of dollars from the community, but at $1,000 per week for treatment, Cerrillo said, money goes fast. A trust fund set up by friends with $22,000 is not enough. Dialysis treatments keep Mateo stable by cleansing her blood, what healthy kidneys should do, but a transplant is the ultimate goal.

"We have received some money but not enough for the transplant," said Martha Ramirez, also a friend of Mateo's. "It's very important people keep supporting her."

Possibly more frustrating than watching Mateo suffer, Cerrillo said, is the lack of help from state and federal leaders.

"They spent millions of dollars doing the political campaign," she said. "You have people dying literally next to you. Regardless of their status, that should not matter."

Helping Mateo transcends issues of race and immigration, Cerrillo said.

"People need to be woken up somehow," she said. "We have a moral responsibility as humans to do something. You have to do everything within your power to try and save a person's life.

"She has so much to live for."

Maura Possley, Herald reporter , can be reached at 748-0411, Ext. 2640, or at mpossley@HeraldToday.com.

How to help

To donate, send money to the Juliana Mateo Foundation, P.O. Box 599, Palmetto 34220.

URL: http://www.bradenton.com/mld/bradenton/news/local/16378607.htm?source=rss&channel=bradenton_local
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