Answered Prayer for a Mother’s Desperate Search

Jose Miguel was born with a severe cleft lip and palate. His mother Erika remembered what the doctor said the day she gave birth.

“He showed me my baby, but from the back! Then he turned him around. When I saw him, I was scared and started crying.”

Erika is a single mom. Her husband left just before the baby was born.  She said she struggled financially to provide for her two children.

"I bought him a low-cost bottle because I didn’t have money for the right bottle for his condition. Then I noticed he was choking and the milk came out of his nose.”

8-year-old Meily tries to help her mom in any way she can.

"I changed his diaper. I watched him when he crawled on the ground so he wouldn’t hurt his mouth.”

Meily is especially concerned about the pre-maxilla under Jose Miguel’s nose. 

“Sometimes he bumps the little thing under his nose. I always try to watch him so that does not happen. I hope an operation can fix it.”

“It hurt me a lot to see my son like this,” says Erika. “I wanted him to be a normal child. I had no way to pay for surgery.”      

Erika said she made trips to two public hospitals to apply for an operation.

“I talked to the doctors and they sent me away. They said, ‘Take your son. We are not doing this type of surgery.’”

"At night, closed my eyes and prayed for my brother," says Meily

Then Erika met some staff members from Operation Blessing Honduras. We delivered the good news that Operation Blessing partners would provide free surgery for Jose Miguel.

"Thank you very much for what you are doing for my son, you have no idea how happy I feel right now,” says Erika.

"Thank you because you are going to operate on my little brother,” added Meily.

A few weeks after the operation, we went back to check on Jose Miguel and found him smiling and his lip healing nicely.

“May God take care of the donors,” says Erika. “Protect them and help them in everything! Thank you for helping those who need it the most."