OPERATION KIDS LIFE SAVING OPERATIONS: LISBETH HERNANDEZ

 

In January 2000, after substantial publicity on the Baby Emily case, the NPDF received an email request from the distraught mother of two-month-old Lisbeth Hernandez of Guayaquil, Ecuador. The mother told of the plight of Baby Lisbeth who was critically ill from congenital heart defects. The Ecuadorian surgeons admitted they lacked the expertise and technology to operate on Baby Lisbeth and if she didn’t receive the lifesaving heart operation in the United States she would die. As a result, the NPDF traveled to Guayaquil and convinced the U.S. Consul General to issue emergency visas and immediately transported the child and mother to New York City. On February 5, 2000, Baby Lisbeth successfully underwent open heart surgery at St. Francis Hospital, Roslyn, New York and the NPDF returned her to Ecuador in March 2000 where she now lives a normal life.