Mike Bell and I have been friends since high school. We were always up for an adventure. We cycled the East Coast together, all the way from Maine to Miami, and traveled abroad. I usually write here about river cruising, but today I’d like to tell you about my friend and ask for some help for his family.
Mike joined the Peace Corps because he wanted to help people living in poverty in Honduras. Later, he helped migrant workers come to the United States legally to work on farms. He also advocated for better conditions on the job and during the journey to the U.S.
Some longtime readers may remember A Highly Unusual Request, a piece I wrote in 2019 when Mike’s six-year-old son needed treatment for a serious heart condition. I shared the family’s GoFundMe then, too. I’m happy to share the news I couldn’t give you at the time. His treatment was successful, and he’s now a handsome teenager. Mike recently shared two photos side by side (bottom set of photos), one from when his son was a baby and one of him smiling as a teen.
Today, Mike’s partner, Angela, and their three children are in Costa Rica. Mike says Angela’s colon cancer is progressing quickly and that her treatment through the public health system has been delayed. The children are with her, and they have no other relatives there. Mike is in the United States and can’t be there with them until later this year because of work.
A business loss and a heart attack wiped out Mike’s savings. He now lives with his mother in the house where he grew up and works more than 70 hours a week between two jobs, one at an Amazon warehouse. He sends what he can to Costa Rica, but Angela’s care costs have grown beyond what he can cover.
The family keeps in touch on WhatsApp. Even when noise and limits on phone use at work make it hard to talk, Mike finds time each day to help his children practice English. He says they’re doing well in school. What he wants most is to be there with them and with Angela.
Mike says the first donations will pay for medicines that help Angela manage day to day. The fundraiser will also help cover her ongoing medical and care costs and support their children. If Angela can’t get the additional treatment she needs, Mike says he may also need help paying U.S. Embassy fees to process the paperwork to bring their children to the United States.
Recurring donations can help cover those ongoing costs, and a one-time gift can help with immediate needs. I’ve contributed, and if you’re able to give or share Mike’s fundraiser, we’d be grateful.
