Norma Martinez lives in a small rental home in Pharr with her four children and her boyfriend, Enri Francisco Castaneda, without heating, air conditioning or a water heater. Instead, they leave their front door open in order to keep the house as cool as it can get in the South Texas weather.
Martinez and her family had a recent medical scare July 4 when she was hospitalized for about six days with a strong blood infection, which was traumatic for her and her family.
“When it started, I thought it was [COVID-19] because I would experience agitation and my body would shake, but I didn’t have a cough or a fever,” Martinez said in Spanish.
She was also experiencing severe headaches and nausea so she was taken to McAllen Regional Hospital to begin several analyses, which is how doctors found a bacteria that infected her blood though they are still unsure of its origin.
Once she was back home, she was bedridden for several more days, so her oldest son, 16-year-old Juan Raul Martinez, would help her around the house and help take care of his 3-year-old brother, Jorge Castaneda.
Martinez’ mother, 71-year-old Yolanda Romera, who lives on the same property but in a separate smaller home, also helps her daughter with washing clothes and taking care of her grandkids whenever she isn’t working.
“I clean houses, apartments, whatever falls on my lap,” Romera said in Spanish.
Martinez is currently on several medications because the infection affected her entire body.
“My blood pressure is high, my sugar is high, my vitamin D is low and now I have anemia,” Martinez said. “My whole body stopped functioning properly.”
She also suffers from a hernia near her belly button that she got when she attempted to lift a heavy object.
On her last doctor’s visit, Martinez was told it was time to operate on the hernia, but she had to refuse because of the financial strain brought on by her time being hospitalized.
The combination of her infection and hernia has caused bills to mount. She tries to be as stress free as possible, but worries for her children.
Before falling ill, Martinez would earn money by making food plates for family and friends while her boyfriend, who she refers to as Paco, would go around looking for different manual labor jobs, such as cutting grass and washing buses.
Despite her medical issues, her main concern is that her children don’t have enough winter clothes.
The Texas freeze that occurred earlier this year was difficult on the family because they lack central heating and a water heater.
Her family was given a gas stove before the freeze. She uses it to heat water for the family to bathe, and to warm the house despite the dangers.
“I was telling Paco that I think we’ll have to go to the flea market soon to find the kids’ clothes,” Martinez said. “We have to make the effort because we don’t know what’s coming.”
Martinez says her kids are very understanding, they never ask for more than what their parents can give them and never complain about not having brand name clothing.
Her kids do enjoy spending time at Main Event though, but never ask too much since the outing can be quite expensive.
Martinez only wishes for her family to be warm and prepared for the winter.
Donations for this family, and others, can be made through the United Way of South Texas. They can be reached at (956) 686-6331 between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Inquire about contributing to the Spirit of Christmas campaign. Due to COVID- 19, only monetary donations are being accepted for families in need.
