First is 13 year old Ariana. She was having palpitations and breathing problems. After confirming the problem was not her heart. HKIE got her to our pediatrician Dr. Neira at Hospital del Rio, who then recommended she see a pediatric endocrinologist. Following an ultrasound of Ariana's thyroid, it was discovered she has multiple cysts on her thyroid. The doctor prescribed 6 months of medicine which hopefully will do the trick. Otherwise Ariana (shown with her mom) will need surgery.

Another child was referred to us by Garry at Hogar de Esperanza. 14 year old Naomi suffered from "lazy eye" in both eyes making it difficult to read or see with both eyes moving around. Can you imagine going through life like that? Dr. Miotto from Exilaser performed surgery  on both eyes. All went well and Naomi, though she may need glasses after her eyes heal, will have normal vision.

Last is 10 year old Mariangelina. Mariangelina was also having vision problems. A quick trip to Exilaser with Jim and Jennifer Cory and a pair of glasses and Mariangelina is good to go.

Thanks to all our doctors and donors neither of these young ladies will go through life with limited vision.

Two eye surgeons at Hospital del Rio asked Dr Pablo if HKIE would sponsor this child. Of course we said yes!
Little 8 year old Ariana's eye was injured from a rock, causing a film not unlike that from glaucoma to cover her cornea. Dra. Elizabeth Pacheco and her sister Dr. Michele Pacheco performed a corrective surgery and placed a special lens in her eye. The doctors report the surgery went very well and the patient and her family are so happy and relieved that her severe eye injury has been corrected. 
​A huge thank you goes out to the entire surgical team for waiving their fees and for the generous discount from Hospital del Rio.

Little 5 year old Zara has Down Syndrome, but also has very bad vision, creating further problems for her. We got her to Exilaser who neede to sedate her to do a thorough eye exam. After the exam Dra. Naty Torres determined that fortunately Zara only neede a pair of glasses to help her along her learning path. Jim and Jennifer Cory assisted HKIE on this appointment and said Zara is a real cutie.
Vicky is a 13 year old who has worsening vision from doing all her schoolwork on the computer. Vicky needed a completely new prescription and drops to ease her eyestrain. She also has very bad foot problems and needed a new pair of orthotics for her shoes as she is growing so much!
Last is a photo of Valentina and Dr. Diego Maldonado. Valentina had her adenoid surgery 10 days ago and a follow up this week. She is, at last, able to sleep through the night (which she had not done before due to severe breathing problems). According to Dr. Diego she will also have a growth spurt with her body receiving enough oxygen.!
​All three children can now look forward to leading normal lives thanks to our donors and doctors.

This is 19 year old Diana. She was born with a malformed left eye. 8 years ago her parents were able to get her an "off the shelf" prosthetic eye which neither fit nor matched her other eye. She spent the last few years wearing her hair over her eye so no one would notice or make fun of her.
Diana's mother reached out to HKIE and Dra. Mariela Siguencia of Hospital del Rio fashioned a prosthetic eye to fit and match. As you can tell she looks great and this was HKIE's Christmas gift to her.
In  a few months she may need Dr. Pablo to perform minor surgery on her eye lid due to the improper fitting of her previous prosthetic. Needless to say, Diana is thrilled.

Also shown is Vicki, who in addition to poor vision, has a severe allegy in one eye, further impairing her vision. With medication it has improved and Dra. Naty Torres of Exilaser won't need to see her for another 6 months.

​These gifts to these children would not be possible without the support of our donors. Thanks!

First is14 year old Mar Alexandra who saw Dra. Naty Torres at Exilaser. Mar Alexandra told Dra. Naty she cannot ever remember seeing out of her left eye and just thought that was normal. Her myopia is twice as bad in her right eye...therefore her brain decided to concentrate on just her left eye. Dra Naty prescribed new lenses and a 6 hour a day therapy in which Mar's good eye is covered in the hopes of creating a stronger right eye.
Normally this therapy is done by the age of 7 but the doctor feels it is worth a try.

Also is 9 year old Belen. Most of her family have severe eye problems and even blindness, so fortunately all Belen needed was new lenses.

We thank all our donors who make this gift of vision to these two young girls possible.
​We also want to than D. Miotto, Dra. Naty and the entire Exilaser staff for always finding time for our kids and treating them with such loving cre.

This is 4 year old Cristel who lives here in Cuenca. She was born with a non functioning left eye which caused her eye to  shrink to almost nothing. We were contacted by her grandmother who had heard of HKIE from another family we had helped. It seemed she was losing vision in her functioning eye.
We got Cristel to Exilaser where it was determined that fortunately all she needed for her right eye was stronger lenses. (She is s0 sweet....she is shown here applauding when she identified the pictures she was shown>.)
After receiving her new glasses, HKIE got her to our prosthetic specialist, Dra Mariela Siguencia at Hospital del Rio. She informed us that Cristel could indeed use a partial prosthetic eye but that the eye socket had also shrunk so surgery was needed to increase the socket size to match her other eye.
Las week Dr. Pablo Salamea Molina and Dra. Siguencia operated on Cristel's eye and put in a temporary prosthetic. In 3 weeks she will receive a more permanent one and later she will receive a final prosthetic. This little girl will be a real cutie after this!
Her mother and grandmother are so very very grateful to HKIE, the donors and all the doctors who are providing such wonderful care to their precious little one.

​Our medical director, Dr. Pablo Salamea Molina, has been busy these last couple weeks.
First was Emil, from Troncal, with his cleft lip. He is shown before and after.
The second is Santiago who had a seriously bad cleft lip which Dr. Pablo also repaired.
Thanks to Dr. Pablo donating his skills, Hospital del Rio giving us a generous discount and of course our supporters, these two babes will be able to go through life with beautiful smiles and no problem speaking normally!

​This is 13 year old Tatiana who has been staying with her family at Hogar de Esperanza. Until Garry welcome them to The Hogar, they
were living on the street. When she and her family arrived, Tatiana had a severe eye infection which Garry immediately attended to. While it improved, Garry called us and if asked HKIE could double check her vision to insure proper healing. Of course we said yes.
Tatiana was seen by Dra Naty Torres at Exilaser who gave her some more medications and asked that she be seen by Dr. Miotto to see if there was any damage to the cornea. Dr. Miotto confirmed there is some scarring on her left cornea that has severely compromised her vision. Tatiana will have a follow up in three weeks. She also received a pair of glasses to improve the impaired vision in her right eye. (Doesn't she look cool and sophisticated in her glasses!)
All of us at HKIE and Hogar de Esperanza are hopeful the medication will do the trick. The fight to save her vision is on! All of our loyal donors make it possible to save her vision.
Huge thanks to all our donors and the wonderful doctors and staff at Exilaser for allowing these little miracles to take place. A huge thank you also goes out to Garry and his wonderful staff for all the amazing work they do for the least fortunate people in our community!

​Update and CHILD 452
First: 15 year old Pablo had his double eye surgery yesterday. Dr Miotto of Exilaser informs us that everything went very well !. This surgery corrected his less than 50% vision. Pablo will have a second surgery in about three months to prevent any further deterioration of his eyes. needless to say, he and his mother are eternally grateful to the staff at Exilaser and you, the supporters of HKIE for making this miracle happen. A huge thank you goes out t o Exilaser for providing HKIE with a generous discount for the surgery!
Pablo and his family now know he will not go blind in a few years!
Child 452 is little 4 1/2 year old Sara who has a severe astigmatism.
Dra. Nataly did a thorough exam and now little Sara will have glasses and clear vision. Isn't she a cutie!
A big thank you to all our donors!