Penelope — our beloved Penny — is an extraordinary 11-year-old girl from Mexico City. She lives with Down syndrome and autism, but what truly defines her is her strength. Since she was a baby, Penny has faced medical challenges that most families never imagine.

When Penny was just a year and a half old, she underwent open-heart surgery. The recovery was extremely difficult and traumatic. During that time, she needed a tracheostomy tube to help her breathe and a gastric feeding tube so she could receive nutrition.

The trauma of that long recovery caused Penny to stop eating completely. She developed a rare condition called aphagia, which means she lost the ability to swallow and eat by mouth.

Today, after years of care and perseverance, Penny has made incredible progress. She can breathe on her own and barely needs oxygen anymore. But there is one final step before doctors can close her tracheostomy and remove the breathing tube.

Penny must learn how to swallow and eat again.

For most of us, eating is something we never think twice about. For Penny, it is a complex skill that must be rebuilt through specialized feeding and swallowing therapy with highly trained therapists.

These specialists are extremely rare in Mexico, and the therapy is costly. To give Penny a real chance to recover her ability to eat, she needs intensive therapy at least three times per week.

These sessions will help her:

• rebuild oral motor skills

• learn how to safely swallow again

• develop the ability to eat by mouth

• move closer to closing her tracheostomy

Learning to eat again would change Penny’s life. It would mean more independence, better health, and the possibility of finally removing the tracheostomy tube she has lived with for most of her life.

We are raising funds so Penny can receive the specialized therapies she urgently needs. Every donation will go directly toward feeding and swallowing therapy sessions and related medical support.

No contribution is too small. Every share, every donation, and every act of kindness helps move Penny closer to a future where she can sit at the table with her family and enjoy food for the first time in years.

Thank you for being part of Penny’s journey.

Your support can help her take one of the most important steps of her life:

learning to eat again.