Ana
Ana is the first child of Paola and Mauro, who live in a rented room in the outskirts of Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Mauro works in a warehouse, earning around $330 dollars a month to cover the family’s basic needs. At Ana’s one month check-up, the pediatrician became greatly concerned by the baby’s condition. After running tests, Ana was diagnosed with dengue, a viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes. She was admitted to the Santa Cruz Children’s Hospital, which was already overwhelmed with dengue cases amid one of the region’s worst outbreaks in years. But Ana’s condition appeared especially acute, so they ran additional tests. That was when they discovered an extremely rare birth defect called aortopulmonary window, in which a hole connects the aortic artery (that transports blood from the heart to the body) and the pulmonary artery (that transports blood from the heart to the lungs). This causes blood to pool in the lungs, leading to pulmonary hypertension and congestive heart failure. Treatment for significant aortopulmonary window calls for open heart surgery, in which blood flow is diverted to a bypass machine so that surgeons can seal off the hole between the arteries. The surgery should be performed as soon as possible after the child’s birth for optimal results. But the concurrent diagnosis of dengue fever complicated the decision as to when to proceed with the indispensable corrective surgery. They held off as long as they could to allow Ana to fight off the dengue virus, until the surgeons felt they could not delay the repair any further.
Ana survived the surgery, but unfortunately did not have the strength to fully recover. Mauro expressed the family’s gratitude to the doctors and to Puente de Solidaridad for all their efforts and support throughout the devastating ordeal: “Dios bendiga todo lo que hacen por los niños que lo necesitan” (God bless everything you do for the children that need it.)