By the Grace of God, a Family’s Wish Is Granted

Tears of sorrow were turned into tears of thankfulness and joy for the parents of newborn Lázaro José Antonio Recinos Pineda, thanks to the Little Angels Last Wishes project, in Guatemala City, Guatemala. Lázaro’s parents had just about given up hope of ever saving their son from a life-threatening illness when Food For The Poor Project Manager Wendy Khouri, along with our in-country partners, answered their last wish for a surgery that would save Lázaro’s life.

Funds were provided for the surgical intervention, and now Lázaro is expected to have a full recovery and live a happy, healthy life.

Below, Jose’s father recounts how Little Angels Last Wishes changed their lives forever.

Hi, I am going to tell you the story of my son, Jose Antonio Recinos Pineda. He was born in Guatemala on January 8th. With 32 weeks of pregnancy, my wife Mirna Pineda was diagnosed with preeclampsia, which is a syndrome of aging of the placenta not allowing the newborn to form adequately inside the womb of her mother and putting at risk the life of my wife and the baby.

Our gynecologist didn´t have the chance to put my wife the injections for the maturation of the lungs of the baby. By the grace of God the baby was born by a cesarean operation with 33 weeks of pregnancy. His umbilical cord made 3 turns on his neck so he could not have been born by normal delivery.

On Tuesday the 29th of January the baby stopped breathing while my wife was breastfeeding him at home. She took him immediately to some clinics of an insurance company called Ciam near our home. He was stabilized there, and then brought to the nearby clinic of a pediatrician. We had the intention of bringing the baby to the Roosevelt state hospital, but the pediatrician said the hospital was too far away and that there was a high possibility of the baby dying in the transportation. So, we took him to La Paz Hospital which is not that far.

In the hospital the baby was diagnosed with severe reflux which had come into his lungs and caused pneumonia, difficulty to breathe and apneas. Additionally, he was diagnosed with supraventricular arrhythmias, and with a 3 mm hole in his heart which did not have the chance to develop completely. We hope this hole is going to close as the baby grows.

During the next days at the hospital the baby had another apnea crisis during the night and almost died. On February 6th the doctors said he had to be operated as

soon as possible because he otherwise had a very high probability of dying by asphyxia.

On February 7th he had to be intubated and the doctors said he had to be operated by emergency (the doctors talked about a Niessen Funduplication). The problem was that the debt to the hospital was already very high and we didn´t have the funds to pay the intervention.

So, we were given the number of the Hospice Ammar Ayudando, where patients with terminal illnesses go to spend their last days or hours. There we were told of a donation program for last wishes and efforts given by the institution Food for The Poor and administrated by the Guatemalan Association of the Order of Malta and through a miracle we received donated the amount we needed for the operation.

The surgery was performed on Friday, February 8th from 7:20 to 9:20 a.m. Two hours of anguish but the procedure was completed successfully. The following day the baby presented high fevers but thank God they have disappeared today, the 10th of February.

Thanks to a miracle granted by God through the institutions of Food for the Poor, Ammar Ayudando and the Order of Malta we were able to save my son. We pray He may concede him a full recovery and a happy and productive life. We will always be thankful to these institutions; may God bless them.

After this experience and according to the passage of the holy Bible, the name we are going to give our son is Lázaro José Antonio Recinos Pineda.