City Council and Waste Control team up for gift to dialysis patient

Jose Cruz

He is known for his personal fight with kidney disease and his public battle for the improvement of kidney treatment in Belize. But Jose Cruz is in need of urgent medical procedure in Guatemala City to save his limbs from being amputated.  The condition is called micro vascular disease where the small veins and nerve endings become clogged.  The week-long stay – along with the necessary dialysis treatment costs fifteen thousand dollars and Cruz had embarked on a public appeal for help.  And the group called People Reaching Out to Others or PROTO had indeed reached out by initiating a fund-raising drive that reigned in over ten thousand dollars.  But Cruz was still short of three thousand five hundred dollars.  Well today he got more than he needed when the Belize City Council allocated five thousand dollars.  The money came from the Belize Waste Control and Cruz and his wife, Milenie, were more than happy for the good gesture.  Marion Ali was on hand for the brief handing-over at City Hall’s Conference Room and filed this report.

Marion Ali, Reporting

It was no lotto winner collecting a big cheque for hitting the right jackpot numbers, but after the love Jose Cruz was shown today from his long time friend, Mayor Zenaida Moya Flowers, and the Belize Waste Control, he no doubt feels like a winner.  Cruz received a cheque for five thousand dollars from the sanitation company, through the mayor’s efforts for the man she worked with for years and whom she called simply “Fudge”. By the mayor’s own reckoning, Cruz has been a productive citizen and she just had to step up to the plate.

Zenaida Moya Flowers, Belize

“Fudge has been—when I was the Registrar of Cooperatives and Credit Unions—a cooperative officer himself.  And Fudge, and I have a photo here, this is myself and Fudge when he used to be a very productive citizen, helping communities, going out assisting them as it pertains to strengthening their cooperatives. We can never help enough when it comes to assisting individuals, specifically persons like Fudge who continue to contribute to society. Fudge by continuing to champion the cause of dialysis patients, even future patients.”

George Lamb, Mgr., Belize Waste Control

“What is admirable about you is your tenaciousness and your willingness to fight in spite of your discomfort and the challenge that is before you. We are more than honoured to make this contribution of five thousand to you, hoping that it will ease and lessen the difficulties that you now face. We want you to know that we appreciate what we see in you, we stand with you and we are willing to do whatever we can to make things better for you.”

Cruz was touched but he did not revel in the moment.  Instead, he reciprocated that love through a pledge to all Belizeans.

Jose Cruz, Kidney Dialysis Patient

“It’s a shame that in this country we have to be begging for healthcare.  We’re a very small country and we do something.  Trust me, we’re going to have free care for people in this country that can’t afford it.  It’s going to happen, before I die, I’m making this commitment to the community, it’s going to happen. We’re going to right things that are wrong in this country.”

Cruz is leaving Belize tonight for Guatemala where he will spend a week at Napolis Hospital.  Reporting for News Five, Marion Ali.

Mayor Moya Flowers says Dr Michael Pitts also contributed five hundred dollars on behalf of the Ministry of Health for the procedure.  Because the efforts have netted more than Cruz needs for his treatment, he has agreed to help four year old Tarell Sutherland with the extra money.  Sutherland has a rare skin disease for which he too needs advance treatment abroad.