Editor’s Note: The following is the fifth installment in a
series of articles connecting our readers to the area’s most needy
residents during the holiday season. The Morgan Hill Times will
present the stories Nov. 28 through Dec. 22.
Morgan Hill – Tales of family border-crossings are commonly shared, but few involve making the trip in a wheelchair.
In February 2004, that’s just what Elisa Ovin Arredondo did.
Partially paralyzed since the age of 16, the 38-year-old Mexican national borrowed $7,000 from her mother in San Jose to hire “coyotes” to shuttle herself, her husband and two young children from Mexico City to Las Vegas. She was seeking to elevate herself from a life of confinement in Mexico where paths of travel seldom lead far for disabled individuals.
“I wanted an opportunity to see what possibilities there were to help with my disabilities,” said Arredondo, whose family now lives at the Sobrato Transitional Apartments in Gilroy. “In Mexico, I was always confined to my home. It was difficult because I didn’t have a lot of strength in my hands, and when I wanted to move (my wheelchair), my husband had to come help me. Coming here opened doors.”
Arredondo is recovering from surgery she had Thursday at Valley Medical Center in San Jose to remove a tumor from her ovary and implant a catheter in her kidney. In addition to being paralyzed from the waist down after a virus attacked her nervous system when she was a teenager, she is battling a host of ailments that have weakened everything but her resolve.
“I want to live because of my children,” she said, “but it’s hard.”
Arredondo said her mother kicked her family out after a sibling rivalry erupted over the money paid to the “coyotes … polleros.” The family spent the next year shuffling from shelter to shelter, occasionally sleeping on concrete floors. They eventually won a lottery for temporary housing, a $249-a-month apartment that her husband pays for as a dishwasher at a Gilroy restaurant. He makes about $1,200 a month. He left behind a career as an electrician in Mexico City.
For now, Arredondo’s biggest challenge is transporting herself across town. The family’s small van doesn’t have a lift for her electric wheelchair. A new van with that equipment costs $65,000 – money the family hopes to raise with a charity car wash in January promoted by Eduardo Sotelo, a syndicated Los Angeles radio personality known as “El Piolin.”
Details for the event are still being ironed out.
But the family also needs help with basic house cleaning and furniture, including a bed for her 4-year-old son Raymond and a mattress and desk for her 10-year-old daughter Lina.
When she leaves Valley Medical Center – if all goes well, she said, in a week – Arredondo looks forward to resuming English classes at the Learning and Loving Education Center, a nonprofit provider of services to immigrant women in Morgan Hill. She’s also training for a job at Santa Clara Family Health Plan, a nonprofit provider of low-income health care, where she’ll help people with disabilities who are eligible for Medicare in addition to Medi-Cal.
“She has so many challenges, but she is just so full of hope,” said Janet Leach, who works at the Learning and Loving Education Center. “She doesn’t see things as obstacles, she just sees them as steps.”
Readers can learn more about how to help the Arredondos by calling the family at (408) 842-0398 or the Learning and Loving Education Center at (408) 776-1196.
HOW TO DONATE
The Arredondos emigrated from Mexico in 2004 so the mother, Elisa, could get medical help. The family of four needs help raising $65,000 for a van with a wheelchair lift, and help with basic cleaning and new furniture. Readers who want to donate can reach the family at (408) 842-0398 or call the Learning and Loving Education Center, a nonprofit provider of services to immigrant women in Morgan Hill, at (408) 776-1196.
RESOURCES FOR IMMIGRANTS
Learning and Loving Education Center
A nonprofit provider of services for immigrant women, offering educational workshops and early childhood education to more than 250 women a year.
16890 Church St. #16, Morgan Hill
(408) 776-1196
Santa Clara Family Health Plan Family Resource Center
An agency that seeks to provide high quality, comprehensive health care coverage for those who do not have access to, or not able to purchase, good health care at an affordable price.
1775 Story Road, Suite 130, San Jose
(408) 874-1888
Tony Burchyns covers Morgan Hill for The Times. Reach him at (408) 779-4106 ext. 201 or tburchyns@morganhilltimes.
