Nourishing Fathers This Father’s Day: Meet our Client Pedro

Every day, fathers across New York City rely on nourishment from God’s Love to support their health, like our client Pedro.

Pedro, who is from Spain, met his wife Violeta in church after she had been in this country 10 years. They fell in love and got married a year later. For Violeta it was love at first sight. Violeta had trouble getting pregnant and was only able to have her first daughter, Maria, after she and Pedro had been married for five years. A year later, she gave birth to Cristina.

Violeta and Pedro celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary on April 27^th. “Happily ever after,” Violeta said. “It’s true.”

Pedro was diagnosed with esophageal and stomach cancer when he was 81, three years ago. One of Cristina’s friends said, “Take him to MSK right away.” They were referring to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. Fortunately, MSK accepted him as a patient. They operated on him, and then he went through chemo and radiation there. As he was recuperating from his cancer treatments, he got pneumonia, which made him very weak. But now they say he is cancer-free.

Violeta and Pedro first heard about God’s Love from their daughter Cristina. Cristina lives in California but has lots of friends in New York, where she grew up. One of her New York friends told her, “Get God’s Love food for your dad, because they are very good.” Violeta said she wasn’t initially on the program, but later they put her on as well.

Pedro loves the food from God’s Love. Violeta loves it too. The meals have given them one less thing to worry about. Pedro particularly loves the soups and the fish, and, with his Spanish roots, he enjoys the pork. Lately God’s Love has been providing him with softer, minced food, which is easier for him to chew and digest.

“All I have to say is ‘What food do you want?’ and then I just warm it up,” Violeta says. “Not having to think about what to cook for him has been a tremendous help.”

Violeta said she believes food is medicine. On God’s Love food, Pedro doesn’t feel hungry. Every two hours, he wants to eat, and the God’s Love program provides for this. He still feels weak if he tries to take a walk, however.

Violeta said that it’s hard seeing Pedro weaker. “He used to be very active and love doing things around the house, helping people,” Violeta said. “And now he sleeps a lot. I try to get him out in the back yard to look at the trees. He used to like to play solitaire on my laptop, but it is harder now.”

Violeta said it’s going to be a long journey. But Pedro has been slowly healing, she said. Violeta has also been feeling stronger.

“I’m just going to say one more time,” Violeta said, “God’s Love meals make Pedro feel good. Thank you, God’s Love. I love you.”