(Updated Dec. 14) Only those who have experienced the serious health problems of their children know what is going on in the Aguayo family in Ecuador. An Ecuadorian couple, with three other children, is fighting for the life of their youngest child, Adelita, who is two months old. Her health is so delicate that, when we contacted the parents by telephone, the baby just had suffered a respiratory arrest and had to be resuscitated. Time is a vital factor in this case.
Today, the baby survived the crisis and could be fed. “She’s a fighter,” says her father, firefighter Alex Vinces.
Adelita has a “ventricular septal defect and atrial septal defect ” that causes heart failure and pulmonary hypertension. This condition, according to his father, was not diagnosed early, which complicated things. It was Dr. Violeta Avila who detected the heart defect. The baby is treated with a respiratory drug.
“We are running out of time,” said Alex Vinces, from the hospital where she was admitted yesterday in Portoviejo, although the family lives in the city of Manta, in northern Ecuador. They have called for solidarity in their city, where local media have published the case, as well as on social networks.
“Here we are told that she needs two open heart surgeries, but we would like to take her to the Miami Children’s Hospital in the U.S., where they could do this in one single operation,” said Vinces. It’s a financial challenge, because the operation alone costs $ 100,000.
“I’m not able to work at the moment. There is no way to leave the girl alone. We have no life, “says Vinces, a fire-fighter who was trained at the U.S. base in Manta and has worked even in Afghanistan.
“I want my daughter to be treated, I want my daughter to be fine,” said Sally Vinces Aguayo with broken voice. The mother of Matthew (12 years), Adaly (10 years) and Amelia (6 years) is at the verge of breaking down. Yesterday one of her daughters was admitted for an asthma attack because of the crisis of her sister. But the family does not lose faith.
Sally Aguayo is a U.S. citizen, who resides in Ecuador but the baby has not been able to receive the U.S. citizenship, says Alex Vinces. However they did receive the visa for Adelita to travel to the U.S. and the Miami Children Hospital, as well as the Jackson Memorial, have offered to perform the surgery.
If you want to help this Ecuadorian family financially please contact Alex Vinces at: (593) 99-653-9749 or write an email to fuegomantaalex@hotmail.com
In Miami you can contact Adelita’s uncle Deniro Vinces at this tel. 305-764-6415
Donations can be made to the following bank accounts in Ecuador:
Pacific Bank Savings Account #1041516435
Guayaquil Bank checking account # 14018328
Pichincha savings account # 4250323000
on behalf of Simon Alexander Vizuete