A second gift: Mother returns to Dell Children's for daughter's heart surgery

When Sofia Rodriguez Diaz was born last November, "she was purple," said her mother, Kelly Diaz. "Her legs, her fingertips, her toes."

Sofia was sent home from the hospital in Nicaragua. But Kelly Diaz's mother recognized the signs of a heart problem.

"Something is wrong with the baby," Diaz remembers her mother saying. "I think she has the same condition as you."

Sofia did have the same heart condition, Tetralogy of Fallot, a combination of four heart defects babies can be born with. They have a narrowing of the pulmonary valve, a hole between the bottom heart chambers and a thickening of the lower right heart chamber, and the aorta is in the wrong position.

The babies are blue or purple because they are not getting enough oxygen. In Sofia's case, her oxygen saturation rate was in the 60s, when it should be in the upper 90s.

Diaz, though, knew what to do for her baby. She contacted the same woman in Nicaragua who 10 years before had connected her with doctors in Austin through the nonprofit HeartGift.

HeartGift, which was started in 2000 by a cardiac surgeon in Austin, brings children with heart defects to Austin, San Antonio, Houston and New Orleans for surgeries that aren't available in countries like Nicaragua.

Since 2000, HeartGift has provided surgeries for about 600 children from 34 countries. Most are babies, but it offers services for kids up to age 14. The goal is 12 surgeries a year at each hospital, but COVID-19 slowed that down. Sofia became the second surgery at Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas this year.

It costs $25,000 to bring each child to the U.S. to have surgery. HeartGift makes an $18,000 donation to the hospital, and the rest helps the families with transportation, medication and other necessities while they are in the United States. The children and their parents stay with local host families while they are here, usually a month to three months.

Success stories:'I knew we were on borrowed time': 13-year-old is second kid to get heart transplant at Dell Children's

Reconnecting with Austin family

When Diaz knew she would be bringing Sofia to Dell Children's, she called up the Rangels, the host family she had lived with for a month and a half in 2012 during her surgery.

"She explained the situation," Esmerelda Rangel of Elgin said. "Of course, we were happy to."

Rangel remembered Kelly Diaz as the 12-year-old girl who could barely walk before her surgery because she would be out of breath.

The Rangels have hosted about a dozen families. One of their sons, who is now 26, had a heart condition that required surgery when he was 5, and that's how they became interested in hosting families through HeartGift.

Rangel remembers after Diaz's surgery, "it was a big difference. She could walk. She had energy."

Diaz remembers being scared as that 12-year-old who had come to a new place and was living with a new family, but mostly "because I knew I was going to have open-heart surgery."

Afterward, she said, "It was a big, big change. I was able to walk."

Today, people would not be able to guess Diaz was once so sick she couldn't walk. All that remains is a faint scar on her chest that is only visible when Sofia pulls down on her mother's shirt as she falls asleep.

Global initiatives: 'Thank God they helped us': How Austin's SpineHope repaired a teen's back with high-tech surgery

Helping Sofia

When Diaz and Sofia arrived at the Austin airport on Oct. 4, the Rangels saw a very sick baby. She cried all the time. She didn't have any energy. She also didn't want to eat.

On Oct. 11, Dr. Charles Fraser Jr. operated on Sofia at Dell Children's to fix the defects, including closing the hole in her heart. Sofia stayed in the hospital for three days before returning to the Rangels' home while continuing to see doctors for follow-up appointments.

Already, Sofia has gained almost 2 pounds. Her lips, toes and fingers are no longer blue or purple.

"Her color is completely different," said Dr. Karen Wright, a cardiologist at Dell Children's who has been treating Sofia and treated Diaz 10 years ago.

"She's a brand new baby," Rangel said. "She smiles; she plays."

Treating Sofia is "the next generation," Wright said, which also makes it special. "I'm just happy we were able to help Sofia and her family."

To see Diaz so healthy 10 years later, "it's amazing," Wright said. "... it's pretty exceptional to see Kelly after all these years."

Diaz and Sofia are expected to return to Nicaragua in mid-November, just in time for Sofia's first birthday. Diaz expects to have a church service "to give thanks to God for helping with the surgery," she said.

Mission work: Austin doctor saves babies from blindness as world expert in retinopathy of prematurity

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: HeartGift recipient returns to Austin for daughter's heart surgery