Naum had severe headaches for eight months. Alone and scared, without insurance or money to pay for medical care, Naum—who speaks only Portuguese—didn’t know where to turn for help. Naum’s landlord and friend had told him about Shepherd’s Hope, and a short time later he walked into a Shepherd’s Hope Health Center.

At the center, a volunteer translator described his symptoms to the volunteer doctor on duty that night, who immediately ordered a CT Scan of Naum’s brain. Within a few days, the test results revealed a terrible diagnosis… Naum had a brain tumor.

A Shepherd’s Hope Case Manager used a translation service to call Naum to communicate in Portuguese that he needed to go to the emergency room immediately… but Naum was afraid to go alone. After repeated phone calls, the Case Manager reached Naum’s friend and landlord, who immediately contacted Naum and accompanied him to the hospital that day.

After extensive brain surgery at a local hospital and two radiation treatments, Naum was able to go back to work and continue to live out his American dream.