Over the last few days, online news daily Costa Rica Hoy has appealed to its readers to help Rebeca Flores Rivera, a two-year old girl with a delicate heart condition. Rebeca’s heart has not been transporting the necessary amount of blood to her lungs since she was born. She was rushed to our Children’s Hospital just four days after she was born and an emergency surgery was performed.

The surgical procedure consisted of a delicate vein reconstruction. As baby Rebeca grew, an obstruction on her reconstructed vein developed, causing her to become extremely tired, cold and even purple after a bit of physical activity. Rebeca wishes to run around like any little girl of her age, albeit she is not able to.

Rebeca is being cared for at our Children’s Hospital, and specialists have expressed interest in performing another surgery, but her chances of survival are not good. Rebeca’s father told Costa Rica Hoy that he does not want to leave his daughter’s life to chance, and thus he is considering the better option of taking Rebeca to Holtz Children’s Hospital in Miami, part of the University of Miami and Jackson Memorial Hospital health system. Surgeons at that hospital are positive that Rebeca’s chances of surviving would be greater and that her quality of life would improve greatly if they are able to operate.

Rebeca’s parents have been diligently trying to collect the required 18 million colones for their daughter’s surgery, and to this date they have collected 10 million. They have already held a number of events to raise money, such as a concert with Grammy award recipients Son de Tiquizia and four other bands. They are still short of their goal, which is why they are holding a mini fair at the sports field in Patarra de Desamparados this weekend.

On Saturday, March 31^st, a moonlight gathering will take place starting at 5:00 pm. There will be live music and sales of delicious food, bingo games and fireworks. On Sunday, April 1^st, traditional gallopinto breakfasts will be sold and a motorcycle tour of the mountain trails of the Patarra mountains will take place.

If you can’t make it over the weekend, please consider depositing your donations to the following bank accounts, all of which are in the name of Rebeca Flores Rivera:

• Banco Nacional # 200-02-070-000435-5
• Scotia-Bank # 1600-1085623
• Banco de Costa Rica # 001-12974471