From Adversity to Hope: The Daily Struggle of Ronald Vaca

6 March, 2026

An accident left him immobilized. Pasoc and the National Safe Life Foundation are helping with his rehabilitation.

Two years ago, the life of Ronald Vaca Salvatierra took an abrupt turn. He had arrived from Beni with his wife and three children, driven by the desire to build a better future in Santa Cruz de la Sierra. He worked as a caretaker and also helped with the administration of a condominium. Everything was going well until that early morning when, while returning home along G-77 Avenue, a sugarcane truck crashed into his motorcycle and ran over him.

The impact fractured his spine in three places and severely damaged his clavicle. Since then, his reality has been completely different. “I can’t feel anything from the chest down and I can’t do anything,” he says with a trembling voice. He lost his job and now depends on his wife, Yesenia, even for the most basic tasks. The spinal cord injury prevents him from controlling his sphincters and from standing up.

When Cirita Lavardenz, a volunteer from Pastoral Social Cáritas (Pasoc), learned about his situation, she visited him with food supplies. However, she soon realized that his needs were greater: clothing, diapers, and specialized medical care. Thanks to the efforts of Julio César Caballero, executive director of the Fundación Nacional Vida Segura, traumatologist Édgar Sempértegui took charge of his case. The diagnosis is not encouraging: the spinal cord has severe damage and, although his arm might have a solution, it will require time and constant treatment. Ronald attends physiotherapy every week while living with persistent pain.

At 24 years old, he has not lost hope. Together with Yesenia, he looks for ways to support their three children, aged nine, seven, and two. They both run a small food stall at the Terrado II neighborhood market, trying to move forward despite everything they have endured.

Following medical advice, the Fundación Nacional Vida Segura donated him an electric wheelchair. “It will give him greater autonomy to work,” Caballero explained. Ronald received it with emotion: “I will be able to help my wife with the sales and move around better. Despite everything, God sends me kind and supportive people, like the ladies from Pasoc and the Foundation.”