Mildred Lucas from Pedernales is Ivana's mother. Ivana, unfortunately, was born with two heart murmurs. Thanks to the pediatric heart surgery program that the Guayaquil Junta de Beneficencia has put into effect at the Roberto Gilbert Children's Hospital, the child was operated free of charge and will now enjoy a better quality of life.
Mildred and her husband anxiously awaited their little daughter's arrival. They dreamed of a completely healthy baby girl, but this was not to be. When Ivana was born, they felt something was amiss since she exhibited an intensely reddish complexion which was not normal. However in Pedernales they were given no explanations for the symptoms.
It was Mildred's nephew who noticed that Ivana's belly was beating fast and so the young mother took the child to a health center in Bahia de Caráquez. There they detected a heart murmur and redirected her to Portoviejo. After an electrocardiogram and various other tests, the problem was confirmed but could not be treated at that particular health center.
Anguished, not knowing where to turn to, Mildred returned to Pedernales where a local doctor pointed out that, at the Roberto Gilbert Children's Hospital in Guayaquil they could look into Ivana's problem.
Mildred's sister-in-law- requested an appointment at the Gilbert Hospital. After being examined by Dr. Viviana Camino, Ivana underwent several tests and results showed she had two heart murmurs. In order to close them, she began treatment at the age of six months, based on medication, which she continued to take until she was a year and two months old.
In order to evaluate the child´s condition, a new electrocardiogram was done and the two heart murmurs were detected still not closed. This pathology required surgery.
Now Mildred is a grateful mother who is happy to have a healthy daughter "the Hospital has helped me inmensely with catheterism, the operation and everything else. I am grateful for the help, because they made it possible for me to have my daughter operated on and now she is well, has been discharged from the hospital and we can all go back home. I urge people to collaborate with the Guayaquil Junta de Beneficencia and its Hospital, the Roberto Gilbert, because that way they would help many children with similar problems since we are mothers of scarce means unable to afford surgery for our children".
