A 14-year-old from Guatemala was being squeezed to death by her spine, until a doctor, a chaplain and a community helped.
By WAVENEY ANN MOORE
Published August 24, 2003
[Times photos: Lara Cerri]
Juan Diaz and daughter Gabriela Diaz Lopez are staying at the Ronald McDonald House in St. Petersburg as the girl recovers from surgery from scoliosis. Local church members said the medical community donated the money to bring the two from Antigua, Guatamala.
Juan Diaz helps Gabriela get her brace on. Her operation made her more than 4 inches taller and saved her life. Dr. Clinton "Chip" Davis said her condition was gettting worse by the month.
Gabriela is greeted at All Florida Orthopaedic Associates, from left, Pat Penrod, surgical coordinator; Diane Barnes, clinical manager; Dr. George Canizares, Juan Diaz, and Grace Smith.
Dr. Clinton "Chip" Davis performed the nine-hour surgery to fix Gabriela's backbone at All Children's Hospital earlier this month. She had two 90-degree curves. Dr. Davis said: "We knew that the clock was ticking. Her curve was getting worse every month."
From left, 14-year old Gabriela's before and after X-rays show the improvement in her spine as a result of scoliosis surgery. Gabriela came from Guatamala for the surgery with the help of a medical mission group.
ST. PETERSBURG - The 14-year-old girl wore oversize sweat shirts to cover the deformed spine that was slowly killing her. Gabriela Diaz Lopez's backbone was curling in on itself and squeezing the life out of her vital organs.
The pain was bad. The curious stares were worse.
The kindness of strangers is saving her life. Thanks to the compassion of dozens of Americans, Gabriela traveled from her home in Guatemala to undergo surgery that has greatly straightened the two 90-degree curves in her spine. The operation made her more than 4 inches taller. Most important, the procedure has extended her life.
"We knew that the clock was ticking," said Dr. Clinton "Chip" Davis, who performed the nine-hour surgery at All Children's Hospital earlier this month. "Her curve was getting worse every month."
Juan Diaz, Gabriela's father, said he cannot find words to express his gratitude to everyone who helped. He dabbed his eyes with a blue and white plaid handkerchief as he spoke.
The quest to save his daughter's life began when she was 3 years old. It took on greater urgency in recent years as her condition grew progressively worse, he said, speaking through a translator.
"She had two 90-degree curves," Dr. Davis said. "She had some underlying congenital abnormalities which led to her scoliosis being more rapidly progressive."
The severity of Gabriela's condition meant that her lungs did not have room to expand. Until her surgery, it had been getting harder and harder for the teenager to breathe.
Gabriela also has Marfan's syndrome, which results in very long, thin bones. People with the condition tend to be very tall and thin and often suffer from heart, kidney and spine problems, all of which have affected Gabriela.
Last week, though, she smiled as she and her father talked about the contingent of people who had rallied to help their family. When her father mentioned the doctor in Guatemala who had advised against the surgery and had predicted her demise in America, Gabriela grinned broadly.
She turned to whisper a few words to her father. When they go back home, she told him in Spanish, they must visit that doctor.
The surgery was risky, agreed Dr. Davis, who is with All Florida Orthopaedic Associates, 4600 Fourth St. N. That's the reason the ninth-grader, who enjoys art and computers, had to be brought to the United States. Dr. Davis, 47, who has traveled to Guatemala for the past eight years with an interdenominational group to provide medical care to poor residents, became aware of Gabriela's condition more than a year ago.
"At the time, I didn't have what I needed equipment-wise to do her complex surgery," he said.
Diaz and his wife, Gladys, clung to the doctor's promise that he would return the following year with the equipment to perform the surgery.
When he returned, though, "the curves had gotten so severe that it was no longer safe to do it down there," the doctor said.
"It was quite an emotional thing. I had to tell her mom and dad that I couldn't do the surgery down there and her dad pleaded with me, and I just couldn't say no."
The Rev. Mike Davis, who is no relation, is assistant to the pastor at First Presbyterian Church. He traveled to Guatemala as chaplain to the medical team. He also was moved by Gabriela's plight.
He was on his first trip with the medical mission sponsored by First Presbyterian, but made up of nonmembers as well. Gabriela's parents were devastated when they learned that the surgery could not be performed in Guatemala, Davis said.
"It just broke my heart. ... I asked if it could be done in the States," he said.
Hearing that it could, the pastor said he "basically started praying about it" and "decided to be the bull dog and make it happen."
The mission trip was in April. By July, Gabriela and her father were in St. Petersburg. Her mother joined them for the surgery on Aug. 5.
Many people helped to make the trip and surgery possible and bearable, the doctor said. All Children's Hospital and many medical professionals donated their services. George Etheridge, who owns a medical implant business, organized a trip to Disney World for Gabriela, complete with limousine service.
The Stryker Spine Co. donated about $20,000 in implants for the surgery. The congregation at First Presbyterian Church, where Dr. Davis attends, contributed money, volunteer time and various other services. Dr. Bob Hamilton, also of All Florida Orthopaedic, and his family invited Gabriela and her father to spend a week with them. Gabriela and her father also spent two weeks with Carmen Ruiz, a nurse who had gone on the medical mission.
"This is just a lot of people saying, "Yeah, we can get behind this,"' Davis, the pastor at First Presbyterian, said.
The mission trip that helped Gabriela had its genesis back in 1993, with a concept developed at a Presbyterian church in Houston, Texas. Called Faith in Practice, medical mission teams, which are made up of volunteers, pay their own way and travel to Guatemala to provide free medical service.
"I do it for religious reasons, because I think that all people, including Christians, are called to help out their fellow man when they can," Dr. Davis said. "In the United States, we take for granted so much."
Last week, as Diaz sat in a conference room at the Ronald McDonald House, at 401 Seventh Ave. S, where he and his daughter are now staying, he talked about miracles and the kindness of Americans.
Gabriela's father said he is certain that God has something wonderful in store for his daughter. She is the only one of his four children who has taken the opportunity to learn English, he said. Because of her English skills, he said proudly, they didn't get lost in the Atlanta airport. The family will return to Guatemala in about a week.
- Times staffer Acenett Peters contributed to this article.
