Update on Lucia

Lucia is a little girl we have written about before.  She was found back in the Spring when Kellen Hansen brought down a medical group.  While the group was in Maria del Carmen we bussed in some of the kids from Nueva Victoria.  Dr. Kim had the children sit in a circle while she did a quick heart, ear, eyes and throat check on them.  When she got to Lucia she realized that something was wrong.  Her heart didn't sound good and her eyes were glazed.  Her heart was not working right and she was having a hard time breathing, her life was very scary.

 

After following up with Dr. Peter she was sent into the city to insert a catheter in her heart.  When she arrived they found that her teeth were rotted and she had an infection.  The hospital filled out a prescription and sent her home.  A couple weeks after being home we checked on her progress and found that the prescription had not been bought because the family did not have the money.  We bought the prescription for her and her parents promised she would take it.

On her second trip to the city the doctors were able to put in the catheter and determined that she could indeed have the open heart surgery that she needed.

 When it was time for her surgery, Lucia and her parents were ready...but the hospital was not.  It rained quiet a bit the night before her surgery and the operating room flooded!  The surgery had to be postponed.  There were some great people there encouraging her parents to stay as they were nervous and getting inpatient.

Finally Lucia had open heart surgery and it went well and she was on her way to recovery.  More money had to be sent to pay for her family's food, water and Lucia's medicine.

When it was time to come home we sent Mario in the van to get her.

She was put to bed to continue to recover.  The outlook is good for Lucia.

While the actual medical care was covered by a medical partner group, they don't/can't cover basic living expenses.  So to have this open heart surgery Lucia needed everything else paid for--from transportation to the city, to food and water and any medicine.  There were a few special women from the medical team that found her that put a lot of time and energy into raising this money to help Lucia live a long and fruitful life.  If it weren't for them then Lucia would still be living in fear...or worse.

We have saved the life and the quality of life of many children this way.  When medical groups visit we have discovered the children that have either been hidden away or their medical condition has not been diagnosed.  Dr. Peter is ready and willing to help us follow up on those children when the medical team leaves, so that we know how to proceed to improve their life.  When they need to go to the city for care we depend on donors to help the family get there.  Sadly many of the children that need help do not get it simply because their family can not afford the gas, food and/or medicine.  If you would like to help a child like Lucia please email (erin.casadesion@gmail.com) me so I can put you on a list of people to contact when the need arises OR donate now and indicate that you would like the money to be held in reserve for medical emergencies.

And if you are a nurse/doctor/dentist wanting to visit please contact me to schedule a trip.