we had one of the saddest turn of events to date last night.
After spending the day practicing with the little girls, playing a game with the men, and having dinner with some of the girls on the premier team, we headed to the Central Park to hang out and juggle a bit in front of the Cathedral. Becky, Myra, and Hubs hit it off immediately with Flaca, Leticia, and Yelba, although Yelba had been acting sort of strange all evening. As the night went on, Yelba started to act more and more tired, and finally sat down to rest against a lamp post. Everyone sat down with her and thought little of it, until shortly thereafter she began to breathe heavily and then fall in and out of consciousness. It became scarily apparent that something was wrong. After trying water, we quickly realized that Yelba needed an ambulance. A woman nearby started tapping on her chest, saying that it was her heart, as the other girls started shouting that this has happened before. Suyen and I tried to get one of the Policemen to call an ambulance, but they seemed wholly unconcerned. Recognizing that the Police were totally useless, we hailed a cab and carried a now unconscious Yelba into the backseat. Arriving at the hospital, we took her right into a room where the doctors promptly kicked us out. Fifteen minutes later, Yelba walked out of the room dead silent and the doctor gave us a prescription for a relaxant.
After picking up a bottle of coke, per doctors orders for low blood sugar, and the prescription (which, by the way, was illegible and the pharmacist asked us if we knew what it was supposed to be) we took a taxi to Yelba's house where she lives with TWELVE other people in a series of wooden shacks.
I wanted to cry when her Mom's initial reaction was to assume that she had eaten something bad, and yelled at her for drinking soda. After realizing that it wasn't what she ate that caused this reaction, she then started to blame soccer, saying that she was hit in the head too many times. We explained that Yelba hadn't played soccer at all that day, and that we were just standing in the park when this all happened.
To think that this 16 year old girl with probably the most athletic potential of any of them has these panic attacks/diabetic reactions/who knows...often and may never know why, is truly frightening. She lives with her Mom and 11 other siblings and cousins, and generally eats one meal per day. When we bought her dinner that night, we noticed she wasn't eating and asked her why, only for her to explain that she was saving it for her Mom. After offering to buy her Mom dinner as well, Yelba devoured the food-in-a-bag.
We obviously have no idea what goes on in her house, but it's hard to keep from wondering what would have happened if no one had been there to take her to the hospital. Everyone who knew her seemed to have a different diagnosis for why these attacks happen to her...ranging from epilepsy to diabetes to panic attacks to a weak heart. I left the house wondering if it was our place to insist that she find out what it is, and where the line in drawn in how much we can help change her situation.
For someone who had never seen an unconcious person, it was quite a reminder of our inherent humanity and how precious life can be. Playing soccer with these girls all the time, it is easy to forget how very different our lives are. Out on the field we are teammates, opponents, and friends. Behind the scenes, however, our lives could not be more different, no matter how simply we are trying to live during our time here. I left Yelba's house feeling incredibly sad for her, and incredibly blessed by the life I was born into. There is no easy way to wrap your mind around these differences, but the process of trying to do so will surely impact each and every one of us.
After spending the day practicing with the little girls, playing a game with the men, and having dinner with some of the girls on the premier team, we headed to the Central Park to hang out and juggle a bit in front of the Cathedral. Becky, Myra, and Hubs hit it off immediately with Flaca, Leticia, and Yelba, although Yelba had been acting sort of strange all evening. As the night went on, Yelba started to act more and more tired, and finally sat down to rest against a lamp post. Everyone sat down with her and thought little of it, until shortly thereafter she began to breathe heavily and then fall in and out of consciousness. It became scarily apparent that something was wrong. After trying water, we quickly realized that Yelba needed an ambulance. A woman nearby started tapping on her chest, saying that it was her heart, as the other girls started shouting that this has happened before. Suyen and I tried to get one of the Policemen to call an ambulance, but they seemed wholly unconcerned. Recognizing that the Police were totally useless, we hailed a cab and carried a now unconscious Yelba into the backseat. Arriving at the hospital, we took her right into a room where the doctors promptly kicked us out. Fifteen minutes later, Yelba walked out of the room dead silent and the doctor gave us a prescription for a relaxant.
After picking up a bottle of coke, per doctors orders for low blood sugar, and the prescription (which, by the way, was illegible and the pharmacist asked us if we knew what it was supposed to be) we took a taxi to Yelba's house where she lives with TWELVE other people in a series of wooden shacks.
I wanted to cry when her Mom's initial reaction was to assume that she had eaten something bad, and yelled at her for drinking soda. After realizing that it wasn't what she ate that caused this reaction, she then started to blame soccer, saying that she was hit in the head too many times. We explained that Yelba hadn't played soccer at all that day, and that we were just standing in the park when this all happened.
To think that this 16 year old girl with probably the most athletic potential of any of them has these panic attacks/diabetic reactions/who knows...often and may never know why, is truly frightening. She lives with her Mom and 11 other siblings and cousins, and generally eats one meal per day. When we bought her dinner that night, we noticed she wasn't eating and asked her why, only for her to explain that she was saving it for her Mom. After offering to buy her Mom dinner as well, Yelba devoured the food-in-a-bag.
We obviously have no idea what goes on in her house, but it's hard to keep from wondering what would have happened if no one had been there to take her to the hospital. Everyone who knew her seemed to have a different diagnosis for why these attacks happen to her...ranging from epilepsy to diabetes to panic attacks to a weak heart. I left the house wondering if it was our place to insist that she find out what it is, and where the line in drawn in how much we can help change her situation.
For someone who had never seen an unconcious person, it was quite a reminder of our inherent humanity and how precious life can be. Playing soccer with these girls all the time, it is easy to forget how very different our lives are. Out on the field we are teammates, opponents, and friends. Behind the scenes, however, our lives could not be more different, no matter how simply we are trying to live during our time here. I left Yelba's house feeling incredibly sad for her, and incredibly blessed by the life I was born into. There is no easy way to wrap your mind around these differences, but the process of trying to do so will surely impact each and every one of us.
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