Mary Freeman
May 29 at 2:12pm · Helping Kids in Ecuador (HKIE) Child #264
HKIE supporters take a bow! You again helped to save a child's life!!!
This is 5 month old Reyna following her kidney surgery.
HKIE was informed by Hospital Metropolitano in Quito, in April, that there was desperate need for a baby to have emergency surgery to prevent renal failure. Unfortunately little Reyna also had a high fever which prevented the immediate surgery. She was admitted to ICU until she was out of danger and put on medication to stabilize her and was watched closely for weeks.
Two weeks ago she had her surgery and the doctors were able to save her kidney. As you can tell, that is one extremely happy and thankful mom!
Thanks again to all our supporters who made this happen, and to Fundacion Metrofraternidad in Quito for covering half the hospital cost, and the doctors who perform these miracles at no cost.

Last week 2 year old Briana (shown after surgery with her very happy mom) had her cleft palate repaired.
Today Camila (shown before surgery with her parents) had her cleft palate repaired.
Two children who now will be able to speak and eat normally thanks to the supporters of HKIE, the generosity and skill of Dr. Pablo Javier Salamea Molina, and the generous discounts from Hospital Del Rio.

This is 5 year old Zara. She hated to go to school and always wore her hair covering her ears because of being so badly teased. Her ears stuck out and you can imagine all the names she was called.
Though it was a simple surgery for Dr Pablo Javier Salamea , it was a life changing surgery for this little girl. She and her mother ran up when we saw her at a post surgery appointment...they were happy beyond words.
Thanks go to Dr Pablo, Hospital del Rio, and of course to all our supporters who made this possible.

A special note to our Salinas friends and supporters: Thanks to your support during the early years of HKIE, we are now in a position to help children from all over Ecuador!
This is five year old Mathias from the Salinas area who was born basically deaf. He was told he needed the most powerful hearing aids totally out of reach of his parents budget.
Kate and Heather asked Peggy and Will (our HKIE co founders in Salinas) if HKIE could help. Last month we brought him up to Cuenca for a hearing test and took him to special audiologists at the public hospital.
Yesterday he and his mom returned...and miracles were happening! Thanks to our miracle worker..medical director Dr Pablo Salamea Molina, Mathias received his set of hearing aids.
(The blurred picture shows his reaction toward the first sound he has heard...clapping! He could not stop talking and clapping, he was so excited!)
Due to the fact the he is nearing the age limit, Mathias is also being fast tracked to receive one of the few cochlear implants available through the government! The public hospital Vicente Coral Moscoso is the only public hospital in Ecuador allowed to perform this type of surgery at this time.
So, in a few months Mathias will have implants that will totally change his life!
Also shown is his mother, Fernanda, Dr Pablo Javier Salamea Molina and Marcela ...a hospital director.
Yesterday was a miraculous day for Mathias, his family and HKIE
Of course, A huge thank you goes out to Dr Pablo for making this happen so quickly

This is Erika, a beautiful, vivacious 16 year old who often comes home from school crying.
Erika suffers from severe strabismus (lazy eye) in her left eye. It is so bad she has minimal vision in that eye, so she cocks her hear when looking at things. Her eye also moves constantly do to the poor muscle control, so she is often laughed at and made fun of at school.
She had a great smile the day she heard her surgery to correct this problem will take place this coming Monday. The surgery will be done a Hogar del Ecuador. Since she lives in La Union, she and her mother will spend a couple days at the Emaus House here in Cuenca.
Our thanks to Derrylyn Churchwell for bringing this young lady to our attention and to Dr Rene Cabrera for performing the surgery.
This is one happy young lady thanks to all our HKIE supporters.

This is 18 month old Pedro awaiting his cleft palate surgery with his parents. They came all the way from Esmeraldes to have the surgery performed by Dr Pablo Javier Salamea Molina, who performed Pedro's cleft lip surgery a little over a year ago.
Pedro's family is so grateful to Dr. Pablo and the supporters of HKIE for helping their child be able to eat, speak and have a normal life.

Great News!
This is 11 month old Juan Daniel and his mother. Juan Daniel was born with hereditary glaucoma in both eyes and last year underwent two surgeries at Hogar del Ecuador with Dr. Rene Cabrera.
Those surgeries helped but Dr. Cabrera felt without a special surgery the baby would most likely be blind within a few years. He asked HKIE if we would purchase two special valves to be placed in Juan Daniel's eye to reduce the pressure.
We spoke with Dr. Cabrera just this past week and he is very excited at the results. He feels confident that with these valves working so well Juan Daniel can have the gift of vision for his entire life!
A huge thank you goes out to Dr Cabrera and Hogar Del Ecuador for helping us with this family.
Another child's vision saved! What a great day for HKIE and all of our loyal supporters.

This is four year Noami waiting to have her cleft palate surgery. Three years ago Dr Pablo Javier Salamea Molina repaired her cleft lip. Mom and grandmother were shedding tears of joy at the prospect that their little girl can have a normal life. Thanks to all our supporters who made this possible.
(And she is as delightful and sparkly as she appears in the photo!)