Wheels for the World Carries out the Great Commission: Meet David in Mexico

By Joni and Friends|Published On: September 30, 2022|Categories: Wheels For The World|

David's parents Leandro and Josefina standing next to him as he's in his wheelchair, looking at the camera.

Fourteen-year-old David was an avid soccer player until he went into the hospital for routine surgery on his knee. Doctors allowed an unsupervised intern to administer David’s anesthesia. As a result, David lost oxygen to his brain for fourteen minutes, leaving him with irreversible brain damage.

Just six months before our Wheels for the World™ outreach to Mexico, David spent much of his free time on the soccer field with his friends. Today he requires a feeding tube and catheter and cannot bend at his waist. David is now non-verbal. He blinks once for “No” and twice for “Yes.”

“We have learned to be nurses and we take care of David every second of the day. This is something you never think you’ll ever have to go through,” says David’s father, Leandro.

David laying on a mat with a floral sheet on it.

While David was with us at our Wheels for the World distribution site, at times his pain grew so intense that he would groan as tears rolled down his face.

Tragically this kind of suffering has become chronic for David. And for his parents, watching their child in agony brings ongoing heartbreak.

Even in the midst of their unspeakable pain, David’s family found new hope when our volunteers prayed with them.

During their time with Joni and Friends both Leandro and Josefina accepted Jesus as their savior.

“Accepting Christ feels good in my heart.”
Leandro

David praying with his parents and some Joni and Friends volunteers.

Before receiving a wheelchair for David, Leandro and Josefina had to carry David wherever they went. But “he is very heavy,” Josefina said. And the family grew isolated. But now, with a wheelchair custom-fitted by our therapists and mechanics to keep David safe, new possibilities open for David’s family.

“May God help you help many more people. There are many more people who need you.”
Josefina

Once David was placed in his new seat of dignity and mobility, his father looked him in the eyes and said, “I love you, David.” And David blinked twice.

Around the world one billion (one out of seven) people live with disabilities.

In developing countries and under-resourced communities, poverty adds to the pressures of disability. Too many families cannot afford or access the mobility equipment they need to take part in community, hold jobs, and send their children to school.

At Joni and Friends, we envision a world where every person with a disability finds hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ.

When we meet families like David’s, this means providing a high-quality wheelchair, sharing the Gospel, and facilitating a connection with a local church where they can experience the hope of Jesus—belonging in the family of God that will last for eternity.

This year in Mexico alone, Joni and Friends has distributed 723 wheelchairs, sharing the Gospel with every person and family served.

And through these outreaches, 497 people have accepted the ultimate life-transforming gift: the salvation of Jesus.

You can make more Wheels for the World outreaches possible, carrying out the Great Commission given by our Lord in Matthew 28, verses 19–20:

“Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”