Baby Rosa Has a Date With Winnie the Pooh

Having overcome a devastating case of the so-called “flesh-eating bacteria” in fairy-tale fashion, Oxnard’s Baby Rosa will soon get to meet her idol: Winnie the Pooh.

The dream peddlers at Disney, learning of 1-year-old Rosa Olvera’s plight from media reports, have offered her family a free party at Club Disney in Thousand Oaks. Rosa’s parents accepted, agreeing to attend one of the center’s themed “Pooh-rific” parties Sept. 12, according to a Disney publicist.

The Disney-controlled Winnie the Pooh character happens to be Baby Rosa’s favorite animated figure. She was clad in a velvety red Winnie the Pooh jumper when released from Northridge Hospital Medical Center on Aug. 7.

Baby Rosa’s relatives first noticed she was ill June 29. But it was not until she was seen by three doctors, including a Tijuana physician, that she was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, dubbed the “flesh-eating bacteria” by the British tabloids. She was transferred from Ventura County Medical Center to Northridge for treatment.

State officials later conducted a probe of the treatment Baby Rosa received at Ventura County Medical Center, which failed to diagnose the bacteria until the baby’s second visit to the hospital, and concluded it was adequate.

Baby Rosa was initially given a 50-50 chance of survival. The bacteria were squelched, but not before destroying 20% of the baby’s skin. After a monthlong series of treatments, including several skin grafts, she was allowed to go home.

“We’re excited,” Rosa Suarez, the baby’s mother, said of the party. “Winnie the Pooh is her favorite.”