Postscript: Tot From Mexico Enjoys Gifts of Health in Southland

More than a year after plastic shunts were implanted to drain excess fluid from her cranium, Viridiana Valdez, aged 17 months, plays gleefully in a Riverside home.

The baby was diagnosed by doctors in Mexico as having a potentially fatal brain condition known as hydrocephalus. A severe fluid buildup pressuring the brain required prompt surgery, but the family had no insurance, so doctors said they could not help the child.

In their own words, the Valdezes then took their baby “home to die.”

Today, thanks to an airplane pilot who heard of her condition and flew her to the United States, and to a Riverside woman who arranged free medical care at Western Medical Center in Santa Ana after seeing her picture in a newspaper, Viridiana is “approaching normal parameters” for her age, according to her surgeon, Dr. Michael Sukoff.

Following six operations last year to drain accumulated fluid and implant the shunts, Viridiana acts like a normal toddler. Sukoff said she must still be tested for brain damage, which may have occurred during the period in Mexico when she received no medical care.

So far, however, the outlook is good.

Last summer, the Valdezes took Viridiana from the hospital to the home of Bill and Elizabeth Guynn, their Riverside benefactors. Seven children, two of them foster kids, teach Viridiana games like “peekaboo” and “so big!”

Her mother, Himelda, is unconcerned that Viridiana is adopting Americanized habits. “All children play the same,” she says. But for Himelda, 23, and her husband David, 22, the distance between Riverside and their native El Fuerte cannot be measured in miles.

When they first stayed at the Guynn home, the couple kept the same hours as the sunlight, because they were unused to electricity.

In Mexico, they had no plumbing, and worst of all, no way to care for their ailing daughter.

“If we were in Mexico, we would not have the baby,” Himelda adds, simply.

Remaining in America for the child’s follow-up care may mean a second round of battles for the Valdezes.

Since April, 1984, the family has obtained extended visitors’ visas every six months. The family wishes to stay in America, to end concerns about medical care once and for all.

Sukoff said the child will “definitely” require extensive follow-up. “A certain percentage of these shunts need to be fixed every two years or so . . .. I’m sure she can’t get that care where she lives, in the more primitive area” of Mexico.

Officials of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service said a visitor’s visa can be renewed “almost indefinitely” for required medical care, but the law does not provide for immigration on “purely humanitarian” grounds.

Guynn will continue to petition for citizenship for the family. As Himelda cradles her only child in her arms, the reason is obvious. After a long silence, Himelda suddenly bursts into tears, taking everyone by surprise. “My entire family and I thank God you saw my baby’s picture,” she tells Elizabeth.