Athletics Counselor Shares Story of Family and Faith

written By
Luciana Chavez
date
category
Blue Devil’s Advocate
share this

It was 1996 when Pablo Gutierrez and his mother Josefina made their first visit to Merced College.

Josefina needed to enroll in continuing education courses to continue her work as an assistant with Head Start. Pablo was there to translate her Spanish into English, but he didn’t quite understand the process.

He could only stand by, feeling his mother’s frustration.

“I was 12,” he said. “I kept thinking, ‘It shouldn’t be this difficult.’ She knew her job was on the line, and no one was helping her. I told her, ‘Mom, don’t worry. One day I’m going to be a counselor and help people like you.’”

Many years later, now a Blue Devil athletics counselor, Gutierrez recognizes the impact Merced College had as he navigated difficulties throughout his adult life.

“It changed my life forever,” he said. “It gave me purpose and hope during the most challenging time of my life.”

Dreams

Pablo was a student at Golden Valley High School the next time he visited the college, this time to gain some easy credits by taking a soccer class.

A permanent U.S. resident from Mexico, Pablo was finishing up high school, renewing his green card and being recruited to play soccer at Stanislaus State in 2002. Without the renewal, he wouldn’t be able to play or continue his education. Stakes were high, but the “lawyer” hired to help disappeared with Pablo’s family’s money.

No money, no green card, no soccer. Pablo could not legally work in the U.S. His only shot at a future was to return to Mexico, where his uncle had secured him a tryout with the Liga MX Club America program. He left his family in 2003, knowing he might never return.

Club America eventually helped Pablo, who played on the reserve team, secure a tourist visa. In 2005, he finally visited home, and met Jessica.

As Pablo’s visa was expiring, the couple knew they wanted to get married eventually. To secure his U.S. residency, in 2007, they got married right away instead. They built a life—working, traveling, buying a home and having their first child, daughter Naima, in 2010.

Nightmare

It felt like a “happily ever after” story, until Naima got sick.

The 2-year-old couldn’t shake a recurring fever in 2012. Doctors kept saying she had a cold. Jessica kept asking questions until a doctor discovered a huge lump on Naima’s kidney.

It was a rare rhabdoid tumor, an aggressive cancer that cruelly targets young children. They took Naima to Valley Children’s Hospital in Madera that same day.

“Our whole world crumbled,” Pablo said.

Oncologists removed Naima’s kidney. She endured chemotherapy and radiation. She beat back infections while doctors marveled at her resilience.

Yet, early on, Naima’s little body was already so ravaged by treatments that doctors stopped them and sent her home. They told Pablo and Jessica to make Naima comfortable.

When Naima spiked a fever, they raced to the hospital. In the ambulance, Naima had a seizure. Pablo had to put his hand in her mouth so she wouldn’t bite off her tongue. In the ER, no one could find Naima’s pulse. She coded. Naima had no immune system to fight another infection. Doctors said she wouldn’t make it through the night.

During those terrifying hours in the NICU, a friend encouraged Naima’s parents to turn to God. Pablo opened a bible and randomly landed on Mark 5:41. In it, Jesus revives a girl who was thought to be dead.

He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha, koum!” which means “Little girl, I say to you, arise!”

“There was no other option for my daughter, no other plan,” Pablo said. “But the next morning she woke up and told us she wanted to go outside and play.

“That was Christmas Day.”

There was no other option for my daughter, no other plan. But the next morning she woke up and told us she wanted to go outside and play. That was Christmas Day.

Pablo Gutierrez Merced College Alumnus, Athletics Counselor

The Offering

In the dark moments of that miraculous night, Pablo prayed, “Lord, if you spare Naima, I promise to do a manda for you.”

In Mexican Catholic tradition, a manda is a promise. You thank God for his grace by offering a sacrifice in return.

Pablo’s manda would eventually be running 18 miles through Mexico City to the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe. A cousin helped him plan the route at high altitude through a city that once had the worst pollution in the world, and through the most dangerous neighborhoods, where not even police or the military dared to go.

“I was so scared because my cousin was telling me all of that 10 minutes before we’re supposed to start.” Pablo said. “He said, ‘You’re gonna see people doing drugs. When they ask you for money, give it to them.’ Then he handed me some change and said, ‘Let’s go.’”

That part of town was strangely empty as they raced through on Mother’s Day of 2014. While running uphill the final two miles, the cousin collapsed in exhaustion and waved Pablo on. Pablo got his second wind and made it to the vast public plaza outside the basilica. There, with hundreds of other pilgrims, he crossed the plaza on his knees.

“I’m feeling quite fulfilled at that moment when I hear the mass being said inside,” he said. “And as soon as my knee touched the doorway, I heard the priest saying, ‘Talitha, koum! Little girl, arise!’”

Rising

Pablo and Jessica used every bit of sick leave and vacation time they had to stay near Naima during her nine months at Valley Children’s. They both lost their jobs.

They sought public assistance through CalWORKs, which requires participants to eventually train for jobs or go back to school. Back to Merced College Pablo went, this time finding warmth and understanding from CalWORKs support coordinator LaDenta Smith and Merced County social worker Teresa Chastain.

Pablo first had a work study gig with CalWORKs on campus. Then he found a part-time job in the transfer center. The kid who tried to enroll his own mom in college, the student wanting to earn a degree, the man refashioning his family’s life, dove into the work.

“I realized I loved connecting with students and setting them up with resources,” he said. “Speaking to them in Spanish and seeing people’s faces light up, I remembered my mom’s face all those years ago. I found my calling.”

He got his AA in 2016 and his BA from Fresno Pacific University in 2018, then completed an MA in school counseling at Fresno Pacific in 2022.

“I can’t explain it, but every time I encounter difficulty, I think about that passage from Mark and how God walks us through difficulty,” Pablo said. “I have to admit, we’ve never felt worthy of that. We’ll never understand why God picked us, but we’re so humbled. We can only say ‘Thank you.’”

Epilogue

Jessica is a counselor, sharing her passion with young people at Farmdale Elementary, where Naima found so much support as a student.

Josefina and Benjamin Gutierrez, Pablo’s parents, are enjoying retirement and being grandparents to Naima, 14, and Pablo Jr., who will be 2 in November. Josefina, who eventually aced her required classes three decades ago, recently retired as the director of Madera County Head Start.

Naima, celebrating 12 years of remission, is a freshman in high school. Doctors who treated her still call her “a walking miracle.”

And, after stops at UC Merced, Stanislaus State and Atwater High, Pablo Gutierrez is back at M Street, counseling Merced College athletes whose goals are so like his own once were.

Pablo fulfilled his promises—to Josefina, to Jessica, to Naima, to God, and to himself.

“Merced College has always uplifted me,” he said. “My heart is extremely happy to be here.

“This is exactly what I wanted to do. I’m loving every second. I’m living my dream.”