She’s spent more than a month in a hospital bed, undergoing treatments — including surgery — for a debilitating heart disease.
Carmela Hughes is grateful for the care, but the emotional turmoil is chipping away at her with each passing day.
“I’ve been praying to have a normal life, I’ve been praying day and night, afternoon, my soul is broken right now,” said Carmela from her hospital bed, tears rolling down her face.
The Alberta woman is originally from Dominican Republic. She’s a Canadian citizen and has called Calgary home for more than 20 years.
But her life changed forever five years ago, when her husband suddenly passed away in his sleep. Her only family is their daughter, who is a busy student at University of Calgary.
“It’s been hard, I’m a student so I have to go to school a lot and visit the hospital after,” Taylor Hughes said. “I think about it all day, it’s really worrying.”
Hughes doesn’t want to be a burden.
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“It’s too much for her a 20-year-old kid,” Carmela said.
“She was the one who found my husband dead five years ago — I don’t want her to have the same trauma with her mom.”
They’ve been desperately trying to get Carmela’s sister to Calgary from Dominican Republic, to help out for a month when Carmela is discharged.
Carmela said she will pay for her return ticket and costs while she’s here.
“I only want her to come here for five weeks — she works back home in a hospital and she’s only allowed to have five weeks vacation,” Carmela explained.
However, her sister’s application for a temporary visitor visa has been denied three times. In a letter, the Canadian government expresses concern she will overstay her welcome.
“Apparently she doesn’t have any ties to the Dominican, they are saying, which is weird,” said close friend Kim Keneqa.
“She has two children, she’s a mother, she’d obviously want to go back to her children. She also has a full-time nursing job back home so it’s really strange they are not approving it and (Carmela) really needs the support.
“We can help where we can but she needs family.”
Carmela is expecting to get some help with homecare nurses popping in, but she said she’s going to need a lot more assistance than that until she’s on her feet again.
“I have a lot of friends. They’ve been really, really nice, but it’s very hard when you live in different country and don’t have any family.
“Sometimes I think people should be more compassionate to individual circumstances.”
Global News reached out to the federal government, but as of publishing had yet to hear back.
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Hospitalized Calgary woman’s sister denied entry into Canada: ‘She needs family’