In 2005, Esperanza-Hope for the Children, Inc. brought four year old Noel to Boston for life saving cardiac surgery. Noel was born with both aortic and pulmonary stenosis and the doctors in Honduras were ill- equipped to repair his heart. We’ll be forever grateful to the Ray Tye Medical Aid Foundation for providing the financial support for Noel’s open heart surgery at Tufts Medical Center. Noel continues to receive cardiac checkups because he is currently living without a heart valve and will need another surgery in the future.
Noel’s one year old daughter, Itzel was born with pulmonary stenosis too. This was first discovered by a pediatrician who was listening to her heart, and heard a murmur. Fortunately, Itzel’s diagnosis wasn’t as severe as her dad’s, and healthcare (and our connections) have improved in the past 20 years.
Two days ago the doctors at Hospital Maria in Tegucigalpa successfully performed a heart catheterization and were able to improve Itzel’s stenosis by 55%. She will continue to receive follow up care to monitor her heart but for now she is one happy, playful toddler and her parents are relieved.
We’re thankful for all the staff at Hospital Maria, Esperanza supporters, and our friends at World Pediatric Project for the expert care and concern for Itzel and her family. We especially appreciate Kenia, mom of one of our other heart patients (Mathias) who had been through the experience and was able to offer reassuring words to Itzel’s mom, Osiris. Lastly, our gratitude to Mrs. Eileen Tye for her continued prayers and support. Without her, and the foundation she developed to honor her husband, Ray, none of this would have happened. Noel had the good fortune of meeting Mr. Tye on a few occasions, and we know he would be quite smitten with Itzel and probably offering her a stuffed animal, like he did for her dad.