Cesia in Honduras
Elin is a journalist for the Honduras National University journal Presencia Universitaria. He writes articles on many different topics, but he never imagined that one story he covered in 2018 would have such a profound impact on him and his yet-to-be-born daughter more than a year later.
In 2018, Elin was covering a story about clubfoot for World Clubfoot Day celebrations at Hospital Escuela Universitario, where Hope Walks has a partner clinic. It was the first time he had ever heard about this birth defect and the devastating effect it has on children born with it. The information he learned that day would be a blessing when his first daughter Cesia was born with it a year later.
When Elin wrote the story about clubfoot, he was not even married yet to his wife Maira. They got married in December 2018 and got pregnant a few months later. Both Elin and Maira were excited when Cesia was born on Oct. 3, 2019, but concerned when she was immediately taken away after the delivery. Cesia was born with clubfoot, but this was the least of her many medical complications, including Down Syndrome and Tetralogy of Fallot, a heart condition.
Thanks to his knowledge of clubfoot, Elin sought treatment his daughter right away. Six days after she was born, they took Cesia to the clinic and casting began. Elin knew her clubfoot was treatable. He saw many children just like his daughter that day back in 2018 as he used the skills of his trade to gather the story about clubfoot.?
In a recent article Elin wrote about his daughter’s Down Syndrome, he expressed his feelings about his daughter’s medical challenges.? ?At the beginning there are thousands of questions without an answer, tears come out but after the days pass, the smile and the happiness in her face makes me say thanks to the Lord and makes me pose only one question. Why am I so happy??
He is grateful for Hope Walks. But as a Christian father, he said he first gives thanks to the Lord for the organization and the people helping them.
Cesia wearing her cast and braces. Elin and Maira with their little girl.
