KID
Maily is the youngest
daughter of William and Marciela. The family makes a living in agriculture in a small town outside of Santa Cruz,
Bolivia. Maily first became sick in October 2019, at the height of the civic unrest in Bolivia following a contested
presidential election. During the weeks and months after the election, schools and hospitals shut down. The streets
were impassable and flooded with protesters. Maily was just one of the many Bolivian patients whose lives were
impacted by the post-election tumult.
Marciela shared, “Everything seemed fine when my daughter was born. Her doctor visits were normal. When she was six-months-old she became very delicate. This was during the days of the civic shut down. She was struggling to breathe. We did all we could, giving her natural medicine and milk, but we couldn’t take her to the doctor. After things calmed down, we brought her to the town of Montero. We were very worried. There were times when we thought she might pass out. The doctors in Montero referred us to the Incor Hospital in Santa Cruz and said she would need heart surgery. She is our youngest child. We want her to be healthy. My parents have said they would support us since our income in agriculture is seasonal. Knowing that we can count on institutions like yours is a great help. We could not do this alone.”
Doctors at the Incor Hospital diagnosed Maily with Pulmonary Atresia. This is a congenital heart defect where the valve that controls blood flow from the heart to the lungs doesn’t form correctly. In babies with this defect, blood has trouble flowing to the lungs to pick up oxygen for the body.
Maily and her parents were fortunate to receive help from the Incor Hospital Foundation, Puente de Solidaridad, Dharma Social Projects, and generous partner surgeons at the Incor Hospital. With this help and the support of her loving family, Maily was ready for surgery in early March 2020. Dr. Barrientos and Dr. Jaldín performed a Blalock-Taussig procedure to correct the blood flow problems in Maily’s heart. She was released from the hospital a few days later and will soon be celebrating her first birthday at home with her family. This will no doubt be an incredibly special birthday in the life of this beautiful baby girl.