Vicki
Little Vicki was born in August 2023, to 20-year-old Adriana, in the municipality of Andrés Ibañez outside the Santa Cruz, Bolivia. The household of five depends entirely on the irregular income brought in by Vicki’s grandmother, Elva, who picks up odd jobs in the community.
Soon after taking her home from the hospital, Adriana sensed that something was wrong with Vicki’s breathing. The doctor told Adriana that Vicki had a hole in her heart and would need surgery. That was concerning enough, but after Adriana took the baby for further testing, specialists determined that her situation was considerably more severe. Vicki’s pulmonary veins were abnormally connected to the right rather than the left heart atrium, causing oxygen-rich and oxygen-poor blood to mix.
The family turned to the Santa Cruz office of Puente de Solidaridad seeking support through the Solidarity Bridge heart surgery program. Given the especially rare and delicate procedure needed to redirect the pulmonary vessels, the Puente de Solidaridad social workers helped the family transfer Vicki’s care to specialists in the city of Cochabamba. Vicki underwent surgery on March 9, 2024, at the private Los Angeles Clinic.