Guatemalan Girl Home After Surgery

Three years ago, doctors told Rina Salvador’s mother that the girl suffered from a hole in her heart that caused incoming oxygen to mix with outgoing carbon dioxide. It not only was making it difficult for the 12-year-old to breathe, Rina could die.

Today, Rina has recovered so well from a December operation at Los Robles Regional Medical Center that she’s eager to run, jump and play.

Last week before returning to Guatemala, Rina and her mother, Irma Salvador, thanked the doctors, the nonprofit foundation that funded her trip to Thousand Oaks and the Thousand Oaks Elks Lodge. The lodge donated a bicycle and a pair of in-line skates to the girl so she could do some catching up on childhood.

Cris Embleton, executive director of the Valencia-based Healing the Children California, which provided funds, said she found out about Rina’s plight when she was on business in Guatemala.

“Rina had a heart defect that was discovered when her twin sister died,” Embleton said. “She died of cancer. As a result of that, they checked Rina because she was a twin to make sure she was OK. That’s when they discovered she had a heart condition.”

On Friday, Embleton said, she almost got teary-eyed when she took Rina and her mother to the airport and saw them board the plane for home.

“It’s the most selfish thing a person could ever do because the rewards that we get are incredible,” she said. “And there’s no way money could buy the feeling we could get. When we put her on the plane, I knew she was going to live a long, wonderful life. The feeling never gets old.”