Camila
Little Camila clutched her doll tightly as her mother, Alisson, spoke with a Puente de Solidaridad social worker about her daughter’s condition. The four-year old was experiencing ongoing fatigue and chest pain and so Alisson first took her to the health post near their home on the outskirts of Cochabamba. Doctors detected a heart murmur and referred the mother and daughter to cardiac specialists in the city. When Camila’s father learned of the little girl’s heart condition, he disappeared, leaving Alisson to bear the full weight of the emotional and financial burden on her own. With a monthly income of less than $75 per month, Alisson suddenly found herself in a position of extreme poverty but was determined to find help for her daughter.
Alisson was encouraged when she learned about Puente de Solidaridad and their Pediatric Heart Surgery program. The Puente team visited Alisson and Camila at their home in the Northern Zone of Cochabamba. During this home visit, Alisson pleaded, “I beg you to help me. I clean houses and what I earn is basically for food. I barely manage to pay the rent for my room. Our landlady sometimes invites my daughter and I to share a plate of food with her. I have a TV and some things that I will sell it to raise money for my little girl's surgery.”
The Puente de Solidaridad team, with support from the Goff Gift Fund, made it possible for Camila to be scheduled for heart surgery at the Belga Hospital. Dr. Gabriel Echazu performed the surgery to close Camila’s patent ductus arteriosus and Camila was released from the hospital the following day. The successful surgery was a great gift to the young mother who fought so hard to find help for her beloved little girl. It was also a profound gift to the little girl who has the opportunity to live a healthy life.