We are so excited to announce Nectaly Vela, our first Cheryl Lamon Memorial Fund patient of 2022, is arriving next week, and we will need your help and support during his stay. Our LEAP volunteers met Nectaly on our June 2021 mission to Belize where he had multiple Basal Cell Carcinomas surgically removed from his face. The mission’s skin cancer team, led by Dr. Tripp Parker, determined that Nectaly likely has a genetic predisposition for skin cancers called Basal Cell Nevus Syndrome, which requires multiple surgeries and procedures to treat. Since the specialized care that Nectaly needs is not available in Belize, LEAP is bringing him to Dallas for the next stage in his surgical care. While LEAP primarily treats children, we will occasionally treat adult patients like Nectaly based on their surgical needs.
Nectaly and his wife Selvet arrive in Dallas next Monday, January 3 and are staying until January 23. As so many of you often do, we would appreciate your help in the following ways:- Bringing food or taking them out to eat. Nectaly is vegan, and Selvet is vegetarian; they also don’t drink coffee or soft drinks and don’t eat chocolate.
- Calling and/or checking on them during their stay.
- Driving them to appointments at Skin Cancer Consultants and Dallas Surgi Center.
- Taking them on outings. For example, they would love to visit the Dallas Arboretum and take photos with the “Giant Eyeball” sculpture downtown.
- They also observe the Sabbath on Saturdays and are unavailable for outings then.
- Providing gift cards to help with food/groceries, etc. during their stay (Target, Tom Thumb, Amazon, etc.)