President's Report
A Bittersweet Experience -
Death of Belkis Mendez
By Wallace Stanberry
To God be the Glory. Some 12 years ago, 8 year old Belkis was left at our Center of Love & Life for cancer treatment. No one returned for her. We became her family. Herb Prince began to pay her attention, got to know her, and then kissed her on the cheek. She began to cry. Herb asked, "Why did you cry when I kissed you? She replied, "Because that is the first time anyone has kissed me."
Soon after, she became ill with a tropical disease everyone thought. Any little scratch festered and the flesh died and sloughed away. No treatments worked and she only worsened. We brought her to Shreveport when Doctors Winterton and Harden began to try to diagnose and cure to no avail. Experts came from all over only to no avail. Finally, Dr. Winterton remembered an obscure writing from Medical School and found the problem - a rare genealogical deficiency whereby her body failed to properly process some proteins.
Belkis responded to the treatment devised but was not cured. Through the following years, several local Hispanic families gave her love and a home. The most recent home was with the Rodriquez family. Marcella truly became "Mom". Belkis became active in the Iglesia Baptista Ebenezar, professed faith in Jesus and worked successfully to earn graduation from school - almost a normal life! However, the basic medical problem continued to recur, resulting in the final event that precipitated a fatal heart attack.
Being her only family, we elected burial in the small town of Vivian, LA on Saturday, March 17, after a service which was held at the McGuire Chapel. The chapel was full with nearly all her church family plus others. She was buried in what would have been her graduation dress, holding her Bible and in the midst of much love. Pastor De Leone and Herb Prince preached, and her friends sang and prayed. The funeral home staff said it was "the most spiritual service they had ever seen." God was glorified in her life and death.
