Felix Manuel was considered by doctors as a, “strange and special case,” because he had been born with two teeth, over 42 weeks and in fetal distress. When they released him from the hospital, his mother noticed that he was not breathing normally, and that he was too weak to even eat, and decided to take him to the public children’s hospital. At 7 days old, he was diagnosed with several heart defects, and the doctors told his mom that his heart condition was so complex it would be impossible to operate on it in the Dominican Republic.

Natividad started looking for help in all the government institutions, foundations, and even the Venezuelan embassy, while living in a home with a cardboard roof. She started making and selling sweets to earn some money for her child’s medication and food, and continued this way for 7years.

News of Felix’s case reached a retired baseball player from his hometown, who reached out to his friend David Ortiz because he knew about the great work his foundation had been doing with children with heart conditions. David immediately sent the information to the foundation and the cardiologists at CEDIMAT. The doctors evaluated Felix and gave his mother wonderful news. Felix was going to be operated on at CEDIMAT.

Felix underwent a successful operation, and recovered at a speed that even the doctors were astonished by. His mother is happy, and she can’t believe that her son will be healthy and that chapter of permanent anguish and uncertainty in which he lived, is over.