Cora
Cora lives with her parents Nayely, a nursing student, and Cris, a locksmith; her baby brother Nic, and her grandmother Ruth in Vaca Diez-Riberalta, a rural community in the department of Beni in northern Boliva, close to the Brazilian border. In September 2023, Cora became very ill and was not getting better. An x-ray revealed a possible hole in her heart, but there were no specialists in the region to confirm the diagnosis, much less treat it. In mid-2024, Cora started to suffer coughing episodes during which her heart raced and she struggled to breathe. The family organized bingo games and other community activities to raise money to seek care. After a few months, they had raised enough to cover their travel to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, but not enough to pay for a specialist. Fortunately, once they arrived in Santa Cruz they were referred to Puente de Solidaridad, whose social workers helped schedule Cora’s treatment and accompanied the family through the process. Nayely spoke for family: “We are very grateful that there are institutions like Puente de Solidaridad who support children who need help like those of us who come from Riberalta.”
On November 21, 2024, doctors at Clínica las Américas in Santa Cruz were able to use a minimally invasive procedure to repair the gap in Cora’s heart wall. She responded well to surgery and was discharged the next day.