“I don’t take life for granted …”
“I was 5 years old when I started suffering from a chronic fever. Immediately, the Compassion staff rushed me to the nearest hospital. My medical evaluation revealed that I was born with HIV.”
Blanca can tell those details calmly now, 10 years later. But in those first days and weeks she was scared — and confused. Blanca’s family originally chose to keep her diagnosis from her. They didn’t tell her why she was taking bitter medicine, or why she kept having to go the doctor.
The choice was a complicated one. In part, it was done to protect the little girl, who had already suffered from so much tragedy.
“Because of my diagnosis, I don’t take life for granted.”
- Blanca
Blanca barely remembers her mother, who abandoned her when she was just 4. Blanca's father refused to take her in, so she ended up with her grandmother, who died after less than a year. Eventually she was taken in by her aunt, Martha.
So it was Martha who had to look at the face of her 5-year-old niece and decide to keep her diagnosis from her until she was older. The Compassion staff committed to supporting Martha and Blanca, so for the next seven years, Blanca received the medical care and anti-retroviral therapy she needed to stay healthy and grow stronger. Because of your support of the AIDS Initiative, every test, every scan and every medical appointment was covered.
Blanca was 12 when her aunt, Martha, decided she was old enough to learn her diagnosis. She was far enough away from the crises of her childhood that she felt secure. Compassion, and her aunt and uncle, had helped her build a firm foundation. And HIV would not destroy that.
“Because of my diagnosis, I don’t take life for granted,” says Blanca. “I have a purpose to fulfill in the Lord, and having HIV makes no difference at all to that. I’m grateful for my medical care. But reading my Bible has fortified my mind, body and spirit way better than my pills.”