LITTLE VILLAGE — A Little Village resident is getting much-needed help from neighborhood organizers to raise money to pay for a liver transplant.
José Landaverde, activist and former Little Village pastor, and activist Hilda Burgos are rallying support for Elisa Andrade, who is trying to raise $20,000 for her surgery. Andrade started the fundraiser in November, raising about $1,000.
Andrade, 54, said she has lived in Little Village for nearly 20 years after moving to the neighborhood from Mexico. In recent years, she had a tumor removed, broke her back after falling in snow and had to have surgery on her appendix.
It was after the operation on Andrade’s appendix that doctors informed her, her liver was inflamed, she said. She said it started to fail after that, causing her to need a liver transplant.
“I’ve always fought for everything, and now my life is disappearing because I don’t have the money to get a liver transplant,” Andrade wrote on her GoFundMe page. “I’m asking for help. I want to live and see my kids in Mexico.”
Money raised from the GoFundMe will go toward medical bills and expenses as Andrade redovers from the operation, Landaverde said. Andrade, who does not have any family in Chicago, said the help from Landaverde and Burgos has been tremendous.
“I don’t have anything; they’ve helped me so much,” she said in Spanish.
Andrade been at Stroger Hospital for about a month as she waits for the liver transplant, and she was in and out of hospital frequently for months before that, she said.
“For the past two months, I was going in once every three days,” she said.
Landaverde said Andrade is waiting to receive the transplant from Rush University Medical Center, but she needs to meet some criteria first, such as having stable housing and a care team for after the operation.
“She needs this surgery as soon as possible,” Landaverde said in Spanish.
To help Andrade, go here.
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