Illegal immigrant takes care of her son with Cystic Hygroma


abc3340.com
By Bryant Somerville
Posted: Sep 30, 2011 5:30 PM EDT

Video @ link

FULTONDALE - AL -

It's one o'clock and mother Julianna Chaves knows it's time to feed her son.

One-year-old Sergio has Cystic Hygroma, which is a mass in his neck. He also has cysts on his tongue. Because of that every breath he takes comes from a tube. He eats through a tube in his stomach.

"He has a big tongue and that's why he can't breathe on his own," she said.

Sergio is a legal citizen, but his mother is not. She says the new immigration law is unfair.

"It's not fair because they're treating us like we're criminals," she said. "If it gets to the point that I have to leave, what is going to happen to my child?"

She's scared to leave the United States where she knows she can get the best healthcare for her son. Medicaid provides more than $2,000 a month on supplies that keep her son alive. And without that she knows Sergio doesn't stand a chance.

"He's a good kid, he's trying to live," she said. "I'm not trying to take anybody's job, I'm trying to have a better life for my son because in [Mexico] I can't do that."

She doesn't mind going back to Mexico, but she says healthcare isn't the same so she'll stay as long as she can.

"If my child wasn't sick, I'd leave to Mexico if I had to," she said. "If they kick me out, I'll leave...but I'm staying for my baby."

Chaves says she has an appointment at Children's of Alabama October 29, where they are expected to operate on Sergio to help make it easier for him to breathe through his mouth.

One part of the new immigration law says that businesses cannot enter into a contractual agreement with an illegal alien. Kathy Bowers with Children's of Alabama says the hospital's number one concern is providing healthcare to children who need it. She also says Chaves's consent for her son's operation would not be considered a contractual agreement.

http://www.abc3340.com/story/15590486/i ... are-of-son