Daniel Castillo Surgery Update - Success!

We would like to update you all on the success of our fundraising campaign to raise money to assist 9-year old Daniel Castillo from Mancora, Peru, who has been suffering from a large cyst in his jaw. Daniel’s family are Primary School teachers from the remote area of Northern Peru where our partner charity, Para el Mundo (PaM), has been active since 2004, and have been unable to afford the surgery, biopsy, medical tests and imaging which were required to repair the large hole in Daniel’s jaw and heal the infection.

Thanks to the generous support of our friends, family members and the large network of kind folks we have been able to reach, we were able to raise the money required for his care. The first installment of $1,500 USD was sent to Peru via Western Union on June 16th, paving the way for the scheduling of Daniel’s surgery. Following a delay during which Daniel was recovering from a sinus infection, which temporarily prevented the surgery from taking place, Daniel entered the hospital on June 26th and was operated on during the day of June 27 by maxillofacial surgeon Dr. Santos of the University of Lima Teaching Hospital.

We have just recently received the wonderful news that Daniel’s surgery has gone successfully, and he is now recovering at home. The second installment of the $2,100 USD total that we managed to raise will be sent to the family this week, which will cover the rest of the hospital bill, as well as the expensive medications Daniel now needs to stimulate his body to repair the damage to his jaw bone. Although his jaw is now wired shut, and he will be eating through a straw for the next while, he is apparently feeling much better, and is healing quickly. The stitches will be removed this coming Saturday.

Daniel has written the following message to his many supporters, to thank you all for your contributions (translation below):

Hola como estan por alla bueno quiero agradecer por lo que están haciendo por mi y bueno yo estoy feliz, ah y tambien quiero agradecerle a los amigos mando saludos a everyone.

Los quiero mucho,
Daniel

[Translation: Hello. How are you all? Here, things are going well. I want to thank you for what you have done for me, and, well, I am happy, and want to thank all my friends. Please send my regards to everyone. I love you very much, Daniel]

To those of you who requested one, or who provided contact information via one of the online donation mechanisms (such as Facebook Causes or CanadaHelps.org), we will be sending out charitable tax receipts this week. If anyone who donated would like one but did not provide contact info, please feel free to write and request one (contributions of $25 CAD or over). To any of our American supporters, PaM USA has recently received its 501(c)3 status (charitable status), and can shortly begin offering charitable receipts for American contributions. Again, please contact us to inquire about this.

Peru is a very poor country, lacking any kind of public health care, and poor & working families are often forced to go without medical care. Without the generous contributions from all of you, this would not have been possible. We are eternally grateful for all that you have done to support PaM and Daniel’s cause, and we are overjoyed that, together, we have been able to reduce the suffering of this boy who has come to mean so much to our extended PaM family. His family’s thanks goes out to you, as does ours.

Toronto Walking Tour Fundraiser

Tour Guys (www.tourguys.ca) is hosting a fun and informative walking tour of downtown Toronto on Sunday June 14th to raise funds for Daniel Castillo's surgery. Para el Mundo (PaM) is 2/3 of the way to collecting the $2500 USD they want to raise, and this fundraising event could help them reach their goal.

The tour is free, but donations are requested and all of the money will be donated to Daniel's family in Peru via PaM.

The tour begins at the Peace Garden in front of Toronto City Hall at 2:00 PM on Sunday June 14th. The tour will happen rain or shine - so cross your fingers! After the tour, we will head to a pub for some food and drink and some socializing. How fun!

Here is the Tour Guys description of the tour:

"On this walking tour of the downtown core, I'll show you some cool places and tell you some stories that most locals don't know. Everyone visiting Toronto knows about the CN Tower, so that's not a part of this tour. Instead we'll cover rebellion, fire, epidemics, war, falcons, a family of jerks, zombies, whiskey, a rainforest, a labyrinth, a disco bomb shelter, bees, choo-choo trains, and geese with red ribbons around their necks. We'll also talk about beavers (our national animal), Canadian culture, and the weather."

If you have any questions, please email jason@tourguys.ca or call him at 647-230-7891

Please Donate: 9 year-old requires jaw surgery

Our partner charity, Para el Mundo (PaM), is scrambling to raise $2500 USD to provide emergency dental surgery for 9 year-old Daniel Castillo of Máncora, a small fishing town on the northern coast of Peru. Daniel is suffering from a painful cyst in his right maxilla; this progressed from an abscess that has gone untreated due to the family’s inability to pay for proper care. The bone is now involved, and the cyst is putting pressure on the adjacent teeth, causing him extreme discomfort. Daniel is well known and loved by PaM's Peruvian and Canadian staff and the international volunteers who have worked in Máncora. His Parents are both teachers raising him and his 3 siblings. Daniel’s father, Lucho, frequently has to make the overnight bus journey to the capital Lima where teaching work is available, and his mother Fanny struggles to make ends meet, working as a seamstress and craftswoman and making cakes and desserts for the tourist industry, while raising the children practically on her own.

Despite increasing tourism in Peru, most Peruvians live in extreme poverty, particularly on the northern coast, where a once thriving fishing industry has all but collapsed. Medical care is expensive and difficult to access, dental care even more so, and there is no publicly-funded health or dental care available for Daniel. Josh Hehner, PaM's Director for Community Medicine Programs says, "Only the richest have insurance, and so if we can’t raise the money to help, Daniel will have to live in extreme pain and discomfort and put his health at risk, or the family will have to take extreme measures to find the funds. We don’t even want to think about what this might mean, because they don’t own any property, have few possessions, and the family already lives in a very cramped space."

PaM is urgently requesting all sympathetic acquaintances, those in the dental profession, and past volunteers who have been touched by the kind spirit and community involvement of the Castillo family, to please give what they can to pay for Daniel’s care. Even the smallest amount is helpful.

Para el Mundo is a registered charity in Canada, the U.S.A and Peru. Their community liaison staff will make sure that 100% of any donation goes directly to Daniel’s dental and medical treatment. Ways to donate can be found here on the PaM website. They will then transfer the money to the staff in Peru who will oversee the disbursement. If you provide a mailing address and name when you donate, they will send you a tax-deductable receipt for your donation.

Danielle Lafond, one of PaM's Directors and a founder, adds,"PaM exists to help the community, but also to alleviate suffering in individuals. This child, Daniel, is very close to our hearts, and needs our help."