Nancy and Victor had made the most painful decision of their lives. They no longer wanted their three-month-old baby to suffer, so they would not accept that he went through another surgical process.
Both became mom and dad on March 13 when their twins Víctor Daniel and Celeste Carolina were born in a hospital in Brownsville, but due to a prolapse (compression) of the umbilical cord, the child had complications.
The baby lacked oxygen and convulsed. He was taken by helicopter emergency to another hospital in Corpus Christi to perform a protocol of therapeutic hypothermia, treatment with which they tried to regularize it. It did not work.
From then on, only devastating medical forecasts followed. The baby was determined terminally ill and the doctors recommended to the parents to say goodbye to the child and then authorize him to be disconnected from the ventilator.
They searched at other hospitals in the United States and after reading the child’s file, the doctors said the same thing: there was no life expectancy for Victorcito.
One day, a doctor informed them that it was urgent to put another ventilator on the baby, which would damage the esophagus, and it was when together with the doctor they decided not to submit it to another operation and take it home to have it in the last days.
“It was a very hard moment, we had already decided, we had set the time and everything,” says Nancy Reyes Ramones, 27 years old.
“In the meanwhile the doctor returned very sorry and said ‘you know what, I just read the file and it’s from another child, it’s not from your son, I was wrong, it was a mistake, I just checked your son’s file and he says that he is breathing well, there is no urgency to put him that respirator right now. ‘
“For me, it was like a sign from God, far from getting angry with the doctor because he made you go through a lot of suffering, I said ‘doctor, do not hurry, for me it was a miracle and God changed the child’s record’.”
From that moment they decided that they would exhaust until the last option to save the life of their son.
With great faith
Nancy is from Monterrey, but after completing her law degree at the UANL in 2010 she married Víctor Villarreal, an American, and went to live in Brownsville, where he works as a teacher.
The father, 38, maintained an unwavering faith since the birth of his children and was the first to not accept medical opinions.
The baby was diagnosed with cerebral palsy. You must use two devices, one to breathe and another to constantly absorb saliva, since you can not swallow it.
In addition, a probe is connected to the abdomen where they feed it. The stature and minor weight of Victorcito is evident in comparison with his twin, Celeste.
After investigating options to help his son, he found that at the University Hospital they carry out research with stem cells to help patients with cerebral palsy.
When discussing the case over the phone, they were informed that the baby was a candidate. They traveled to Monterrey on June 10 in their own car with all the devices that the baby requires.
“It was very difficult to make the decision to come because the machine could still fail on the road, but it was either to stay there hoping that they would give us the same prognosis, or come to do the therapy that is under investigation, but at least it is an opportunity for the baby, “says Víctor.
Victorcito already had his first treatment, which according to the explanation of his parents, is to increase the number of stem cells produced by his body.
They perform a puncture in both legs to remove some cells and then inject them into the spine.
(After the treatment) he breathes a lot more time without oxygen while before he had to have oxygen constantly, and now we take it off for a little while,” says Víctor.
“He starts to manipulate secretions a bit, and he coughs, which is a way of defending himself, because before they went to the lung.”
“He is a miracle because they had told us so many negative things, so many bad things, and it is a miracle that he has awakened,” says his father.
They are living with Nancy’s family, in Colonia Cuauhtémoc, in San Nicolás, where her brothers, Ricardo, 29, and Daniela, 33, have mobilized to raise financial resources for their nephew.
If Victorcito’s life expectancy is in Monterrey, they affirm that they will continue here.
They also opened the Facebook page “Help for Victor Villarreal Reyes”, where they receive donations and prayers.
“My husband told the doctors: ‘My baby is going to be fine, and I am going to volunteer here to give support to the children.’ He is of unshakeable faith,” Nancy expresses.
Read the original Spanish article from
https://www.elnorte.com/aplicaciones/articulo/default.aspx?id=582151&v=1
