Update from Julia. Mazatec Medicine Woman.
We just returned from the Mazatec Sierra from visiting Julia.
The group with Julia in her bedroom
Even when it was nice to see our beloved Julia, and to still find her, the news we bring are sad.
She was happy to see us, a small group of friends that had been there before joined the visit to support her. We had nice conversations, some important and profound as how to deal with what is coming, some sad like her worries to leave her family, and despite all we were also able to make her smile many times, and she even made jokes.
She is decaying fast, has lost half of her weight. She did not eat for more than twenty days, she still can't really eat as her body frequently rejects eaten food. Her pains don't stop, and actually increasing, this doesn't let her sleep or rest. The laying on the bed all the time is also hurting her body bringing additional pains, we are trying to prevent she gets ulcers that could appear in the places when the body has pressure with the bed when laying for too long, this ulcers never close, are painful and get infected, lets hope we can avoid this ones. We will get a special cushion used for this kind of patients to prevent this wounds.
She is facing it bravely. And says she is not afraid to die. The family around her looks confused, scared and worried. Some of the young ones are beginning to get some of the responsibilities to hold the house working. Medications
The medicines that were given to her have strong secondary effects, yes they solve the pains for brief moments, but damage the liver and kidneys, and one of them is already not functioning at all. The other one is compromised too. Plus the liver is not filtering correctly anymore, so medications can't be filtered correctly and they end up being toxic.
Another issue is that some of this meds are opioids, and have severe side effects over all the body and mind. So in this case medications do more damage than help. She doesn't want to take meds anymore, but sometimes the nausea and the pain are so intense that she ends up taking them.... just to feel worse when the effect is over. This is something really sad to witness. Alternative "medicine" She has been going to local medicine people, curanderos and shamans. This is in what she believes, unfortunately many of this people work under a completely different frame, and don't really have any medical knowledge so they don't even understand what are they dealing with, her overall situation is complex and delicate, adn they cant understand what is the full situation with her body. It's all faith, and hope. Yes, sometimes it has a powerful placebo effect that does heal... (Or produces miracles) But other times it worsens things, like one of her last visits to a "healer" while we were there, she returned home crying and hurt in many parts, because the "shaman" hurted her really bad with a message and chiropractic treatment that was not correctly given... or maybe was not supposed to be given at all. She is also trying all the herbs that they people bring to her... Again things that belong to her culture, uses and customs... and beliefs.... But, not all of them work, or some are too powerful and worsen things or could even be toxic and dangerous. Plants are seen as soft things, but some are strong and contain dangerous substances.
The Help We took with us the donations we received from people who support her in this moment, we made a list of those who sent resources for her, we also read her the sweet notes full of love some of you wrote for her. She sends much appreciation and thankfulness for the gesture, support, and kind messages to her. This resources were used to pay the debts they acquired during the analysis stage, and the quest for the real diagnostics, the many Drs, travels, and medications, and to provide the family of food and other things urgently required for everyday life and the functioning of the house everyday life.
I wish I had more to give, I gave them all I could inside my personal economy.
Our goal was to gather for them 3500 USD, yet by the time we got there we had only 2000. We took this in cash and gave it directly to Julia. I thought we could get one or two more friends to join us in the trip, this would have completed the amount we needed for them. Yet no one else joined.
If possible we ask for your support, We would like to reach our goal amount, we are still 1500 under, I do think it's important because the family is struggling now that they figured out how much it will be to face with the funerary expenses that will come from one moment to the other. I also talked with the family and told them to be careful with this resources and save them and use them wisely, as I will not be able to ask for help again. I explained them how difficult the world is now with the fakedemic, and how many people have lost their jobs, and are taking care of their savings.
Drs. say she has between one and four months more before she departs.
Dear Friends I have no words to thank for your support in the name of Julia, her family and myself. If you did not get the previos narrative on her situation, here yo can read it: www.concienciaindigena.org/single-post/2020/10/20/Please-Urgent-Help-for-Julia-Mazatec-Medicine-Woman
If you can and wish to send a donation THANKS SO MUCH
May your kind support multiply in blessings for you and your dear ones. Health Success and Abundance.
Heart to heart hugs
Mario
Let's remember Julia as she was, always happy.
<3
