He clasps his hands together and takes a deep breath before the lights dim and the screen flashes on. The crowd begins to quiet as the film rolls. He scans the room and a bead of sweat rolls down his tan face while he runs his fingers through his dark gelled hair. He hears his voice come through the speakers in the dark auditorium as he straightens his tie and exhales. Like many Mexican immigrants, Luis Veloz and his family moved to Texas seeking a better life. But the American Dream fell short for the Veloz family when it came to healthcare. When Veloz was just 18 years old, his father suffered his first heart attack, and would later suffer two more. Without health insurance, after his father’s third heart attack, the family had more than $250,000 in medical debt. Veloz’s father couldn’t work due to his heart problems, but couldn’t afford healthcare without working. “This is a broken system and something needs to change,” Veloz says. After moving to East Dallas from Aguascalientes, Mexico, Veloz started school at…show more content… Veloz weighed around 250 pounds at the end of the documentary filming and knew he had to kick his health into high gear. He’s lost 50 pounds so far, and plans to continue eating a strict diet of kale, grilled chicken salad, and water without lemons. He plans to continue spending his mornings at the gym to become even healthier as well. He also began working on a new healthcare campaign with the Texas Organizing Project that will help Latino citizens in situations similar to his family’s pay off medical debt through fundraisers and donations. He has been offered admission to Rice University for the Fall 2015, where he will begin studying policy and political science to reach his career goal of becoming a “politician who employs integrity and honesty in his campaigns,” Veloz
