José Permillot Salgado was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus type II over 30 years ago, but his story with MEDLIFE began on October 6, 2011. This was the day our patient follow-up coordinator and nurse, Ruth Varona, paid Permillot a visit in his residence after receiving an email about his deteroriating condition. We were informed about his needs through a friend of our international liason, Angie Vidal, who had been close to his family for some time.

Originally from Lima, José is a bit of a prankster and enjoys playfully teasing those around him and cracking jokes in criollo fashion — frequently using typical slang from the southwestern coast of Perú. At nearly 67 years of age, he says that his only reason for living and staying somewhat healthy is to stick around for his grandchildren, Karissa, José Jesús and José Antonio, ages 10, 8, and 6 respectively.After having accompanied José to several clinic check-ups and covering all of his medical expenses and procedures, including the necessary amputation of his right leg, MEDLIFE delivered a brand-new wheelchair to his residence on November 5th, 2011 and sat down to speak with him about his story.During our chat, he admitted to never having taken any precautions after being diagnosed to prevent damaging his internal organs any further. He added, “I consider myself an idiot for not having done anything when I could have… and now I might lose my second leg as well.” José, who formely sold breakfast entreés and prepared coffee and other beverages as a street vendor, always enjoyed playing soccer on the weekends in healthier times. Today, he lives with his wife, Ruth, and his two eldest grandchildren in the district of Lima in Perú. He hopes to be able to continue to watch them grow for as long as possible and greatly appreciates MEDLIFE’s help along the way.