Rafael Canas: A strong brave Child of God and such a warrior.

This is a short essay explaining what my son Rafael has been through since a new born until this day in his short 4 years of life due to his Medical Diagnosis.

 Hello my name is Iris Santacruz, I’m the mother of Rafael Canas born on July 7,2019.

Since the minute I knew I was pregnant from Rafael I knew I loved him will all my heart and dreams. Rafael is my Rainbow baby, before his birth I had a miscarriage but soon after that tragic incident I had rainbow baby. I found out about his diagnosis during my very first ultrasound at 5 months pregnant. The doctor discovered he had Multicystic dysplastic kidneys, a condition in which the kidney has been essentially replaced by multiple cysts. It is the result of abnormal fetal development of the kidney. There is little or no normal function to his kidneys. He was also diagnosed with Vascular ring in his heart. Vascular ring occurs when a child's aorta — the body's largest blood vessel — or its branches form abnormally, so that they encircle and constrict the trachea and usually the esophagus. This compression can cause breathing and swallowing problems. Thankfully this diagnosis did not affect his heart function, so I’m very happy that this did not affect his heart, it is working beautifully. This is what the Doctor’s could detect while pregnant from Rafael. The moment of truth came when he was born. My husband Martin has always been a hard working father, working side jobs when he can outside of his time working for Titan Solar Power Houston Branch. He was working out of town at the time and I remember it like it was yesterday. Rafael was born at 35 weeks in Children’s Memorial Herman medical center. Martin was 10 hours away, but as soon as I told hem it was time to give birth, he left his work and drove the 10 hours to the hospital. He had made it just in time for our child’s birth. When Rafael was born we were informed about another birth defect that he had. He was born without an anus, imperforate anus is a congenital (present from birth) defect in which the opening to the anus is missing and blocked. Everything hit me at once in that very moment it was all an emotional roller coaster fearing for our child’s young life. The doctors did not give a good chance that our child would survive 24 hours without surgeries. His very first surgery was a colostomy surgery which is a operation that creates an opening from the colon, or large intestine, through the abdomen which required a fistula output. He had it for a 6 months or so. He was in the NICU in the hospital is a neonatal intensive care unit. He was there for about 2 months. I would visit my son every day of the week. I became his nurse with all the love that a mother can have for her child. I learned everything for his care, from changing a stoma bag, which is a collection pouch used to catch stool, to giving his medicine on a schedule, some required to stick him with injections. I learned to feed him through a g-tube which is for weight gain purposes and medication purposes and inserted through the belly that brings nutritious directly to the stomach. Although he eats by mouth now, I was determined for him to not depend on a g -tube and would practice every single day for him to eat by mouth. Rafael has been in and out of hospitals throughout his short life. Like I said he’s a warrior and has fought every obstacle that has been put on him with his health. Martin and I have fought so much for him to have the best normal life possible and to just give him all the love that we possibly can. He’s kidneys over time started to collapse and was diagnosed stage 5 kidney failure. He started dialysis at 2 years of age and was on dialysis for almost 2 years. Finally a light of hope came to our family. We had waited patiently for a kidney transplant for Rafael and thankful always with God for every step of the way. The moment had come when I received a call it was time to for a kidney transplant. That’s one of the many surgeries that he’s had these past 4 years. But this one played a big roll in his life and will change everything for him. Though even after a kidney transplant there are still complications. He’s on medication for a lifetime. He’s recently had abruption in the colon/ large intestine meaning his bowels were partly blocked while some feces can still get through. He started off with pain in his stomach, vomiting and lots of diarrhea. His most recent surgery has been a colostomy output once again though this is going to be temporary this time. I’m glad it’s for a short period of time. And this is were we are at right now. Thank you for taking your time to read this short summary of my son’s medical history . I appreciate your time and support towards my sons health. Very much love and appreciation from Rafael’s parents. May God bless you all and multiples in y’all life in JESUS name amen from the bottom of my heart thank you!!

For God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whosever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 3:16

UPDATE: 11/21/23 *** Wow! Nearly halfway to our goal in 24hrs! Many thanks and prayers for all your generosity! ***