​First shown with Glasses in his mom's arms is 3 year old Jordan from the coast above Salinas. His mother was ill during pregnancy and he needed an intercranial MRI to rule out hydrocephaly. Thankfully the test came out negative.
7 year old Mathias was born with severely protruding ears. You can imagine the teasing he got from the other children. Dr Pablo performed a surgery that pulled his ears back along his head. He and his family are so pleased he will no longer be teased!
Last is 2 year old Justin who just this past week had his severe cleft palate repaired by Dr. Pablo. Now he can grow up able to speak and eat properly.
Both surgeries were performed at Hospital de Rio.
Thanks to the doctors and our supporters, three more children have a chance at a better life!

This is David Alexander who turns 10 in 2 days. He was born with a severe hearing loss.The family lives in a small community (San Francisco) in the Amazon region about a 10 hour bus ride from Cuenca. We were contacted by Rocio of Cetap Lucy and made an appointment for a hearing test with Dr. Diego Maldonado at Hospital del Rio. He called around to get us the best deal on David's hearing aids.
As you can tell by the photo, he was so excited to be hearing. He is now very excited to get back to the classroom.
Thanks to Dr. Diego, Salud Audativa and our supporters, this young man will have a much brighter future!

Pictured is 2 month old Isabel.Just after birth she developed a severe infection in her nose. After many days in neonatal ICU the infection was finally stopped, however much of her nose was destroyed by the infection.
Yesterday Isabel underwent the first of several surgeries to reconstruct her nose with doctors Pablo Salamea and Diego Maldonado (ENT), Dr Jonathan Cordero AND Dra Maria Siguencia at Hospital del Rio. They constructed a temporary prosthesis to begin the formation of the interior of her nose before performing reconstructive surgery on the outer area. Fortunately this will all be done before she will be looking in the mirror.
Four very talented doctors teamed up to give Isabel a much brighter future!
Isabel will grow up with a beautiful nose and will be able to breath normally. What a huge improvement in her quality of life!!
Thank you Dr Pablo, Dr Maldonado, Dr Cordero and Dra Siquencia!!
Her parents are deeply greatful to benefit from the skills of these four doctors and very thankful for our HKIE donors' generosity.
All four doctors waived their medical fees and the hospital gave HKIE a generous discount on the hospital costs.

Another child helped by Fishbon del Sur!
This is 2 year old Andres from the Cuenca area. Last year he was splashed with boiling hot water, resulting in severe burns on his chin, chest and upper arms. This week Dr Pablo performed the first surgery of several on the scars. The surgery was performed at Hospital del Rio. As a child grows, his scars do not, resulting in pulling and restriction in that area. AS you can see....he was not looking forward to this!
Andres is the third child helped from the money raised and donated by Fishbon del Sur. Thanks to Laura, Clay, cast members and attendees!

Pictured is 17 year old Kevin, born with spina bifida. He was given braces over 5 year ago but has obviously outgrown them since then. So he was spending most of his time in his wheelchair. HKIE and Protesis Ibabura got him fitted with new braces to enable him to walk comfortbly.
Our other child is 16 year old Ariel who was born missing the lower part of one leg. He comes from a little town outside of Ibarra, living alone with his infirm mother who is unable to work. He also needed an updated fitting as his leg had outgrown his old prosthesis. He is shown walking on his new leg.
Thanks to Protesis Imbabura and our loyal supporters, these two young men can again be independent.

Yesterday we had a chance to go visiting. Our first stop was Casa de Diabetes to wave goodbye to the kids going on their summer camp adventure. Our good friend Susan Burke March joined us.They will be spending 3 days of fun, learning, and sharing with other children who have diabetes.
Our next stop was to the medical clinic behind Iglesia San Francisco. They were treating children yesterday afternoon. (They are open to adults and children from any country who have no money to see a general doctor). We delivered some much needed supplies, including two stethescopes.
It was a rewarding day!

AND the first two children helped by the Fishbon del Sur play..
One year ago little Steven was severely burned in a home fire where he lives in Sigsig. When a child grows, his scars do not. This week Dr Pablo Salamea Molina did surgery on Steven's leg scars at Hospital del Rio to allow motion in his legs. This will not be his last surgery, but this is a brave young man.
Our other child is 4 month old Angel. a couple of months ago, Dra Mariela Siguencia fashioned a special mouthpiece until this little angel could get his cleft lip surgery. Today Dr. Pablo performed surgery to give this young baby a normal life.
A huge thank you goes out to Laura Inks Bodine, Clay Bodine and the cast and attendees of their recent play for greatly improving the quality of life for Steven and Angel!

Pictured is 8 year old Kelli. She has had minimal vision in her left eye since birth. Unfortunately she needed treatment and glasses to allow her brain to "see" through that eye. The doctors at this point could only give her glasses to increase vision in the left eye to 50%. Fortunately with her other eye at 20/20 she will be able to cope. Thank you Exilaser and Dr. Giuseppe Miotto for waiving the eye exam fee and for the generous discount for her glasses!
Also pictured is 13 year old Luis. Last week Dr Pablo Performed surgery on his nose and repaired his lip at Hospital Del Rio.
As he always does, Dr Pablo waived his surgical fees and Hospital Del Rio gave HKIE a significant discount! Thank You!
Both children will have improved lives thanks to our generous donors.

Kids 344,345 346 347, 348
Helping Kids in Ecuador (HKIE) will sponsor five children for this medical camp. If the families learn how to help their children control their Diabetes now they won't be our patients later! This is our version of a medical preemptive strike!
More on the five kids we are sponsoring in a future post..

Helping Kids in Ecuador (HKIE) Update
Pictured is little Victor....before his cleft lip surgery 2 1/2 years ago and now. We don't often get a chance to see many of the children after they have had their surgeries and gone on with their lives. These photos show what an incredible difference your donations can make in a child's life.