Even before cancer struck, Krista’s parents called her "Free Spirit." They lived in Guatemala, near the seminary where her father taught and Krista was always over there zooming around the soccer field on her bike, competing with boys and older girls, climbing trees and going off on her own without telling anyone.

When she was five, sharp pain in her legs led to months of tests that eventually revealed dark masses on her upper spine. It was lymphoblastic lymphoma, a cancer that attacks the lymphatic system (part of the immune system), causing cells to reproduce abnormally and grow into tumors.

Before long, Krista couldn’t walk and had to use a wheelchair. Unable to get her the special care she needed in Guatemala, her parents brought her to Boston. They’ve been here ever since, mainly because of the excellent care they get at Children’s Hospital Boston.

Liza Hirsch, a Department of Public Health Care Coordinator who works at the Children’s Hospital Primary Care Center, met Krista’s parents soon after they arrived in Boston. She remembers them being entirely responsible and organized but so new to this country they were overwhelmed by all the bills, appointments, and other arrangements Krista needed. Hirsch first helped them manage their bills then found a company to deliver medical supplies to the family’s home in a Boston suburb.

But two much bigger challenges remained: Krista didn’t have enough health insurance and the family was making daily half-hour drives to Children’s in an undependable van with more than 200,000 miles on it and no lift for Krista’s wheelchair.

Liza first helped them tackle the health care shortfall. Working with an attorney from the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute, a non-profit legal services organization, she showed them how to document Krista’s US residency so she could qualify for full state coverage.

As for the transportation problem, Krista’s father, Wilmer, found just the right lift on the internet, but couldn’t afford it, much less a new van. Liza plunged in again, helping him get a loan from an Easter Seals program for kids with special needs, then showing them how to pay it off through a state program that reimburses special needs families for large, out-of-pocket expenses. They now have a much newer van with a power lift that rotates Krista’s chair in and out.

The help Krista got from the Children’s Hospital Primary Care Center is far from unusual. The Center is the largest provider of pediatric care to children in Boston, with an estimated 65 percent of its 11,000 patients living in the Boston neighborhoods of Mission Hill, Roxbury and Dorchester. It monitors kids’ health through key stages of development and helps their families meet economic and cultural challenges.

For her part, Krista has bravely endured two years of chemotherapy. Now a third grader, she’s learning to walk with crutches and riding her bike again, with a little help getting rolling. And her artistic streak has blossomed—she loves drawing insects, especially grasshoppers.

"She has a fire, she is so brave," Wilmer says. "She is always saying, ‘When I walk without crutches I will do this, when I walk without crutches I will do that. She is always talking about what she will do in the future. She is still ‘Espiritu Libre’--our Free Spirit."

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