Santa Rosa Cristus childrens hospital gives two Angel notion children free heart surgery

Dr. Porisch has arranged a way to assist Angelnotion in completing two of the 10 children on the heart list. Santa Rosa Cristus is sponsoring two kids at a donation total 20.000.00
These surgeries are scheduled for the 11th of June. We are needing assistance for the basic costs of the airline tickets(aa miles are welcome). Funding for food and Ronald Mc donald house and transportation for the families in san antonio.





























Leslie pinto Katherine

fixing broken hearts is a beautiful project. talk about making a difference!

Valerie was released from the hospital on her way to a new life

Valerie Update May 28, 2006

We have been in a whirlwind with this little Angel. We have learned a lot from Valerie and her mother Alejandra. Her mother is very young, uneducated, poor economically but rich in heart & character. She is a mother who has struggled to care for a child in the best way that she knew how with the resources she has available to her. At first glance we thought that Valerie was a child that was being neglected. We were shocked thinking how could a mother let her child starve? In retrospect we now understand that as we work with families and go into their homes we have to learn to assess situations not from our own eyes, our life experiences, our sense of reality but instead we must gain an understanding of the full picture before making a judgment. A valuable lesson learned.

Going through this experience step by step with Valerie and Alejandra over the past months we have gained a whole new respect and compassion for Alejandra. We now know that she is a mother who always wanted to do the best she could for her child. In order to keep her daughter alive Alejandra has fed her hours & hours each day literally slowly squeezing milk from a bottle into her mouth to keep her from aspirating. Test results and information from the doctors indicate that despite her malnourished state Alejandra had kept Valerie healthy enough to live. It was a wake up call for us in the first days that Valerie was here watching the effort that it took for her mom to feed her by bottle up to four hours to give her an 8 ounce bottle of formula. Alejandra has shared with us the struggles that she has gone through as a young mother with a child with a severe physical disability living in unimaginable conditions with little to no resources available to her. Alejandra was given no options for treatment for her daughter. She was given advice on how to continue trying to feed her daughter and had been told by some that she should take her daughter home to die. Can you imagine?


The quality of life that Valerie and Alejandra can now lead will be so much better. Valerie has responded very well to her medical treatment and she is getting stronger day by day. She is quite the little fighter. She is now being pump fed directly into her stomach through a gastric feeding tube. She went through the surgery well and has responded well to the feedings. She was released from the hospital and is recovering at the Ronald Mc Donald house. Alejandra has done an excellent job of learning about the care her requires daughter and is very confident learning new skills. The changes in Valerie in just a short time with increased nutrition have been amazing to watch. She is bright eyed and responsive. She enjoys music, cartoons, listening to books and having her dolls with her. She uses vocalizations to “talk” and will let you know when she is not happy with something! She is definitely a strong little girl!


What does the future hold?




Medical Issues:
All medical studies are not in yet. Early studies indicate the possibility that Valerie contracted a virus before birth that caused brain damage & premature birth. Her diagnosis falls under the umbrella of cerebral palsy. Our sole focus right now is on improving Valerie’s health nutritionally. She will have follow up appointments this week to check her progress. She has been released to return home to Mexico to continue to gain strength before secondary medical issues can be addressed. Valerie’s pediatrician in Houston will continue to coordinate her care along with her local pediatrician in Cozumel.

Improvement of Home Environment:
Rosy Pirez of Angel Notion will be going back to Cozumel to begin preparing the home & family for Valerie’s return. We have plans of how to improve their current home environment to meet Valerie’s needs. Plans include providing proper bedding, positioning equipment, ventilation / air conditioning, nutritional & personal care supplies. Rosy will work with the family on how to create and maintain a clean, healthy environment for Valerie. We will work with the family on ways to provide stimulation for Valerie and include her in their family life.

Currently Alejandra & Valerie live in a small roof top shack made of scrap materials on top of her parent’s home. Her house is literally made of ping pong tables and scrap wood along with cardboard boxes. This little home and a newer home that the family was beginning to build on a small piece of family owned land were both damaged during the recent hurricane Wilma. We need your help in building the family a safe, permanent home. The home will be built in coordination with family members and volunteers and will cost under 10 K to construct. Help us to reach this goal!

Transportation:
Alejandra can no longer leave Valerie at home alone, she will have to get assistance for in home care and she will need a safe way to transport Valerie to medical appointments, school and therapy appointments.
Do you have a vehicle that you can donate?

Education:
Alejandra has demonstrated her ability to care for her daughter, has a great capacity to learning and she desires to work with Angel Notion and Carrie’s Heart educating and supporting other families in her community who are going through similar situations. Work that we have done on the island has shown that there is great need there. In March we identified 11 other children whom are severely disabled in the community and whose families are in need of resources and education. We know that these families are just the beginning…we have only just begun to scratch the surface. Alejandra has grown a lot and she has a lot of information that she can now share with other families. Alejandra now has hope and is beginning to make plans for her future. Help us to support Alejandra in meeting her goals by sponsoring her continued education and internship with Angel Notion. We would like to find a sponsor to cover her internship pay of 200.00 a month.

It takes a village:
Alejandra is becoming a super star mother and Valerie is surprising us daily. We look forward to watching Valerie’s health improve over the coming months and years. We all took a leap of faith coming together to work to save the life of Valerie. It has taken the hard work and dedication of many to get us through this first step in Valerie’s care and recovery. We will continue to need this community of support to stay strong and grow so that we can meet all of Valerie’s medical needs and our goals for this family. We are given these missions to assist others UNCONDITIONALLY for this very reason - making a difference one child at a time!

A heart felt thanks to all of you for your financial assistance with Valerie and her mother, the doctors and nurses , The Ronald Mc Donald House, American Airlines, Dalia of DIF and everyone out there who has participated in Valerie’s healing! It takes each one of us working together to make the difference in the life of a child!

Angel Notion’s Compassion Report

Angel Notion’s Compassion Report

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion.”
-The 14th and current Dalai Lama

In its ongoing mission to make a difference in its community, Angel Notion relies completely upon the generosity of spirit of its benefactors and volunteers. At Angel Notion’s Centro de Salud clinic, office volunteers work 6 days a week, and 10 area doctors, specialists, and therapists also work without pay to help hundreds of people monthly. This clinic, which uses both traditional and alternative methods, was created to give options to thousands of people living in Playa del Carmen who, because of financial or educational insolvency, are without other medical options. While Angel Notion fundraising efforts are often focused on extreme cases, the fact is that without continuous, regular support, the clinic cannot function.

The next time you visit Playa del Carmen, we invite you to visit our clinic to help us celebrate our 3rd year of operation and to witness first hand the everyday miracles your donations effect. Our areas of focus include, but are not limited to, the following:

Gynecological cancer detection and prevention
Pediatrics; primarily birth defects and heart problems
Maxillofacial specialties; focused on rare facial deformities
Orthodontics; focused on teeth and palate deformations
Dentistry; routine dental work and preventative education
Ophthalmology; general diagnoses and treatments for children and adults
Chiropractic; treatment of bone and muscle problems
Massage therapy; relaxation and therapeutic massage and technique education for parents of children with disabilities
Reiki: alternative treatment for treating medical and emotional problems
Homeopathy; Natural form of medicine that uses immeasurably small doses of medicines to stimulate the body's own defense and healing process. Homeopathy focuses on bringing the entire body back into homeostasis, or balance.
Psychological services; support for children and adults struggling with social problems, abuse, medical issues, poverty, or stress
Physical therapy; primarily treatment of musculature issues caused by birth defects, accidents, sciatica, and more.
Orthopedics; prevention, diagnosis and treatment of diseases and abnormalities of musculoskeletal systems, along with the provision of supports and special shoes for those with problems walking
Music therapy; alternative treatment for the body, mind, and spirit
Self Esteem courses for kids and parents
Tae Bo and Yoga courses
Diabetic treatment and prevention courses

Behind every medical “case” is a flesh-and-blood person with hopes and dreams that parallel your own. Here are just a few of their stories:


Moise is 20 years old and is originally from an impoverished native Maya region. He now works for Kalus restaurant in Paamul. Moise was born with nose bifida, which in an appearance-conscious society has proved to be a difficult disability to live with. Unlike some other birth defects which can be camouflaged, Moise’s disability is literally as plain as the nose on his face. Angel Notion has arranged for him to go to Michigan at the end of May to be seen by Dr. George Polets at Sparrow Hospital, but we still need to raise another 5, 000 usd to enable his Mexican doctor, Dr. Jorge Salazar, to accompany and translate for Moise. Moise is so overjoyed at the prospect of the difference this will make in his life that he has phoned the Angel Notion clinic countless times to thank the staff and promise that he will live the rest of his life in gratitude. Moise will make a difference for others in the same way that others have made a difference for him.

Together with US charity Carrie’s Heart, Valerie, the 8 year old child with cerebral palsy whom we found in very bad shape on the island of Cozumel last month, has been transported via continental airlines to the Texas children’s hospital in Houston, where her long road to health is just beginning. We anticipate that we will need over 15,000 usd to help this child, and to date, we have raised only about half of that amount. This case is special for us, as we are focused not just on rehabilitating Valerie, but on helping her mother, Alejandra, to gain self-esteem and to learn how to properly care for her daughter. Any parent of a child with cerebral palsy or other severe disability will tell you how difficult it can be to care for a special- needs child…now imagine how hard it must have been for Alejandra, who is uneducated and poor and who lives in a country in which there is very little information or infrastructure to help her. Quintana Roo has the highest number of cases of cerebral palsy in all of Mexico, due to complications during birth.

Leslie Pinto of Cozumel needs 10,000 usd to complete her funding for open heart surgery in San Antonio’s Santa Rosa Cristus hospital. Leslie Pinto is the final child on the list for open heart surgery from our 2005 Fixing Broken Hearts mission. Her parents have waited patiently and have watched all of the other children go through their surgeries and recoveries, and have witnessed the amazing changes in these children’s health. Now their greatest wish is that their daughter also be saved. The clock continues to tick, however, and without this surgery, Leslie will run out of time. Please help save Leslie.

It is difficult to fathom that here in Playa del Carmen, so many lives are cut short from illnesses or disabilities that can be easily fixed in wealthier or more developed nations. Thanks to our Angel Notion angels, we have done our level best to defy the odds and have saved more than 15 young lives this year alone.

We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your continued love, support, and compassion. We could not do this without you.

Valeries arrival to Texas

Valerie and her mother arrived in Houston May 6th 2006. We were picked up by carrie and Paige of carriesheart. Upon arrival Paige and Carrie had welcome baskets with almost everthing you can imagine , from shampoos to candles and lotions.
Please assit us in supporting the family. Your donations will assit us in medical care costs and housing. Thank you for assiting in our passion of making a difference!

susanas recovery after cleft palet surgert

Susana much healthier thanks to those at MSU who made her better!

Kids from Switzerland who gave their christmas

kids in Switzerland who gave their christmas gifts to put a few roof on needy peoples homes near the clinic! They are so little but they know how to give already!