At just six years old, Valentina Cardoza has taught her parents Gerson Cardoza Selva and Alejandra Suazo Uriarte to live “one day at a time.” She was born on November 28, 2016, bringing joy to her parents and other relatives. She is the firstborn of the couple who are moving heaven and earth today to raise money, take the girl to another country and have an operation performed on her.
During the first months, Valentina’s life seemed normal. “She was a baby who looked healthy and enjoyed growth,” recalls Alejandra, however, after three months, after a medical diagnosis, her parents received news that marked the days, hours and seconds. She had a heart murmur detected.
The medical diagnosis was confirmed when Valentina was barely a year old, her mother remembers that a cardiologist told her that her little girl had a heart lesion, but as time went by and she attended medical appointments, the heart of Valentina was found more lesions as a result of Shone Syndrome, a set of very rare congenital cardiac abnormalities.
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At her young age, little Valentina has been assisted by almost half a dozen specialists, a neurologist, physiotherapist, nutritionist, cardiologist and geneticist, the latter detected that the girl suffered from a global delay in her psychomotor system, which would affect, according to Alejandra , Valentina’s social relationship with other people and her language. To this was added the Kabuki Syndrome, which is a congenital disorder that affects multiple parts of the body.
“Although Valentina is 6 years old today, she is a girl who still can’t walk because she has problems in her psychomotor development, she also has problems with eating, since she doesn’t eat solid foods, only soft ones,” says Alejandra.
The mother assures that a couple of years ago, in one of the appointments they were told that “from the age of 6 their heart was going to start to present more problems.”
An operation so that I can live
Valentina attended her parents’ medical appointments at the Manuel De Jesús Rivera “La Mascota” Children’s Hospital in Managua. When she turned two, the specialists told them that the only option to have Valentina “a little longer” is a heart operation, a type of operation that is not performed at “La Mascota” due to lack of resources and the high costs that this type of surgical processes implies.
“Valentina fights every day to lead a normal and happy life. She is a girl who lights up the lives of those who love her and those who know her. We are only looking for a life expectancy, a longer time next to her because we know that our life would not be the same without her, ”insists Alejandra.
Alejandra comments that as a consequence of the diagnosis that the doctors gave her, when she was three years old; Her arrhythmia, in the second week of January of this year, after some X-ray examinations, they found that Valentina’s right lung was full of fluids.
Currently, Valentina is in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of La Mascota, she will be one week old. “We just want to give her an opportunity to extend her life, even if it’s a little more, I would do and give anything for my daughter, I just hope that good-hearted people can support us,” says Alejandra.
Help for the operation
Today with her daughter bedridden in a hospital, Alejandra continues with her faith and hope intact. She affectionately shares that, in the midst of so many difficulties, Valentina is a girl who loves going to a little school, where a teacher helps her learn numbers, colors, vowels, and the alphabet. “She loves to color and play video games,” says Alejandra.
The hope that her daughter can live “a little longer” has led her to seek financial help to be able to travel abroad with Valentina, and even the little girl’s father migrated eight months ago in search of better job opportunities, which Give your family a better quality of life.
“I would like to take Valentina to a country that has the most advanced conditions, means, technology, economy and medicine. Since the operation cannot be performed here in the country, a more expert team is needed”, Alejandra cries sadly.
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Although Valentina’s family has a person in the United States who is advancing the arrangements for a medical appointment at a hospital, the answer they have obtained in terms of expense or cost is that the specialist has to assess it first.
To start, both Alejandra and Valentina need to get a visa to go to the United States. She claims that she already tried once, but was unfortunately denied. So, this week, she will try to apply for an emergency visa for both of them.
“I have an appointment to fill out the form and request the emergency visa, but I have to bring the epicrisis to also show that she is hospitalized today,” Alejandra commented.
As a mother, she says that, “I want to take advantage of the fact that my friends are there (United States), who are supporting me with the movements to find an expert specialist in cases of difficult pathologies in the heart. And you know that a mother gives her life to see her children lead a normal life ”, she concludes.
If you wish to support financially so that Valentina can undergo heart surgery abroad, you can donate to the dollar account at LAFISE: 107225455 in the name of María Alejandra Suazo Uriarte, or donate through the Gofundme platform: “Let’s help Valentina find hope”.
For: United Voices
