Disney Children's Hospital at Florida Hospital (see more articles like this)

Julissa Fuentes Rivas wishes she was “normal” like all the other children in her Honduran village. Instead the beautiful nine year old leads a difficult life due to a rare birth defect where her bladder is on the outside of her body.

The condition, called exstrophy of the bladder, impacts one in 30,000 children and is so uncommon in fact, that no doctor in her native Honduras has been able to perform the lengthy repair surgery.

Fortunately for Julissa, Florida Children’s Hospital, a non-profit medical mission organization called “Mountain of Hope,” Nemours Children’s Clinic, several renowned physicians and many others have come together to fly Julissa along with her mother to the United States to have the complicated surgery performed free of charge.

“This abnormality is something that is typically repaired at birth here in the U.S.,” said Dr. Steven Knight, Florida Hospital Deland physician and medical missionary. “It is extraordinarily rare that a child would reach the age of nine and still be living with this condition.” 

The extensive surgery will require a team of specialists including a pediatric urologist, pediatric surgeon, pediatric orthopedic surgeon and many other medical professionals. “Florida Hospital is very pleased that we could donate supplies, operating room time, hospital stay time and physical therapy to help this child,” said Dr. Monica Reed, Chief Medical Officer, Florida Hospital. “Florida Hospital’s mission is to extend the healing ministry of Christ and we believe that this is a prime example of how we exemplify that.”

“It is quite rare to be performing this type of surgery on a child of this age,” said Dr. Mark Chaet, Florida Children’s Hospital physician. “We know it will be challenging, but we are going to do everything in our power to correct this birth defect and help her lead a more normal life.”

“This surgery has several complicated steps to it,” said Dr. Michael Keating, Nemours Children’s Clinic. “It will probably take about six to seven hours to complete and then she will probably require further surgery as an adult to re-build her bladder. This surgery will drastically improve her condition and her lifestyle.”

The extensive surgery and medical services are being completely donated by numerous groups including Florida Hospital, Nemours Children’s Clinic, JLR Anesthesiology, Central Florida Pediatric Intensive Care Specialist and the Mountain of Hope Foundation.

Mountain of Hope is a non-profit corporation founded by team members of the annual medical-dental missions to Honduras sponsored by several local churches. Several employees of Florida Hospital DeLand participate in Mountain of Hope missions, whose purpose is to raise and manage funds needed to build and support a permanent medical-dental clinic in a rural village in Honduras. For more information visit: www.amoh.org.

“This is a wonderful opportunity for Julissa as well as Florida Children’s Hospital, its physicians and staff,” said Sandra Randolph, Florida Children’s Hospital administrator. “We are able to give this child another chance at life – what a wonderful blessing for everyone.”

Once Julissa recovers from surgery, she is expected to remain in the U.S. for several months undergoing extensive rehabilitation.

For more information on this story, please contact Florida Hospital Media Relations at (407) 303-1917. For updates on this story, please visit www.floridahospitalmedicalnews.com.

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