Like many 24-year-olds, Karen Flores wanted to fix her hair before having her picture taken.
Flores had taken no such preparation for similar photos in December.
But then, the cancer-riddled Honduran girl who sat on the couch nearly 10 months ago was a shadow of who she is today.
"God has lifted my spirit and me a lot," Flores said through translator Angie Mallar.
Flores came to the United States more than three years ago, to earn money to send home. She wanted to save some for herself and then return home to a better quality of life than she left.
Then she was diagnosed with liver cancer.
By December, she had already outlived the one-to-two-month life span her doctors predicted. The cancer was clearly winning the battle--her skin seemed to lay on her bones and sitting up or speaking sapped her energy.
The Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church community, and Eric Muhlbaier of Aiken Regional Medical Centers worked to help her parents, Misael and Margarita Flores, obtain visas. They also raised money to bring them here so the couple could spend time with Flores before she died.
They prayed their daughter would still be alive when they reached her bedside on Christmas Day last year.
"They told us on the phone that she was so close to death," Misael said through Mallar.
Today, Flores appears to be a healthy young woman. She takes care of herself, cooks, attends Mass weekly at Our Lady of Peace and occasionally goes shopping.
Her face now has a healthy fullness and her soft voice has lost its frailty.
She still has cancer, but it is in remission.
"They told her she has less (cancer), now it's minimal," Mallar said.
When her parents left Monday to return to Honduras, Flores could not go with them because she is still in treatment. Her country does not have a clinic that can continue it, she explained through Mallar.
"But if she's going to go anywhere she has to continue treatment," Mallar said.
Her parents have already extended their visas once, and now that Flores' health seems to be improving, the couple said they need to return to their other five children.
They will try to come back to visit if they can get another visa, they said through Mallar.
Flores will continue to live with Rodrigo and Mayra Azofeifa, Costa Ricans who opened their home to the ailing woman when she was still a stranger.
She plans to return to work eventually but will need to find a non-strenuous job with minimal physical labor.
Mayra feels blessed to have been able to help Flores, she said through Mallar
"I love Karen as one more of the family," she said. "Many times in this country we think we can't help if we don't have money. It is not the money but the love we share that helps us grow."
Reach Lisa Kaylor at lisa.kaylor@northaugustatoday.com.
