I have been reading all these stories in the local newspapers about helping poor people during the holidays. More and more those stories are involving illegal immigrants with anchor babies. This infuriates me as there are many poor Americans with sick children who are being put on the back burner while illegals are coming first. Today I read this one. She picks tomatoes and the husband works doing landscaping which screams illegal.
What angers me the most is that many police departments as well as Wal Mart give toys to children and the illegal parents have the nerve to say they don't want the toys but gift cards from the store. In fact at Wal Mart they try to exchange the toys for money or gifts cards. I have yet to see any American do that. They are glad to have gotten something.

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/ ... 5998.story

For family, travel between Lake Worth, Plantation magnifies boy's medical problems


By Erika Pesantes | South Florida Sun-Sentinel
December 19, 2007

Imelda Ramirez doesn't understand what went wrong in the womb.

Her 19-month-old child, Fredi Perez, has Down syndrome, congenital heart disease, respiratory and kidney problems, and suffers from seizures, some loss of hearing and sight, and a brain tumor.

Ramirez, who didn't seek prenatal care early in her pregnancy, became troubled when she couldn't feel the baby move inside her as the months dragged on. It wasn't until her last trimester that Ramirez sought prenatal care and help from Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies Coalition of Palm Beach County, a nonprofit agency that has assisted expectant mothers and their families with health care and social services since 1986.

Ramirez is nearly in tears as she speaks of her youngest son's condition. She finds solace in her faith.

"I can only count on God," she said.

In addition to Fredi, Ramirez, 33, has two other children. Although they are healthy, she's reliving the heartache of having a desperately sick child. In 2003, Ramirez's daughter, Sandi, 2, died from complications of congenital heart disease after three operations.

"I've suffered so much with my children," Ramirez said.

Healthy Mothers/Healthy Babies helped Ramirez with access to and education about prenatal care and transportation to her appointments. The agency also helped her apply for Medicaid, which pays for her son's daily $432 medical bills.

"This family is a classic example of families really in need of education and assistance, and that's what we're really trying to provide them," said Deborah Solow, the agency's director of development.

For Ramirez, the difficulty of coping with her son's medical problems is magnified by the 38 miles between them. Fredi lives apart from his mother, father and siblings, who share a one-bedroom apartment in Lake Worth. It's a humble home with bare beige walls and bedsheets pinned to windows in place of curtains.

Fredi lives in the Kidz Korner wing of the Plantation Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Broward County, where he is one of three-dozen children whose health conditions are classified as "medically fragile." Ventilators keep many of them alive in a mostly vegetative state — premature babies and children who have survived near-drownings, shaken baby syndrome and other accidents.

On a recent visit, a custom-made wheelchair cradled Fredi's mostly immobile body. He breathed with the aid of an oxygen tank and wore a red football jersey and spotless white sneakers.

He has never taken any steps, or spoken, or eaten solid foods. He is nourished through a tube. Fredi often cries uncontrollably and doesn't recognize his name when called. He rarely fixes his gaze or locks eyes.

But he loves being held, his caregiver said. And he seems most at peace in his mother's arms, said pediatric social worker Mirtha Espinal-Perez, who is not related to Fredi. He last felt his mother's touch about a month ago, she said.

"He needs his mother's love and family's love. There are a lot of barriers when it comes to her being part of her child's life," Espinal-Perez said.

The family does not own a car and must count on others for rides to the rehabilitation center.

They struggle, not only emotionally because of Fredi's condition, but financially. Ramirez recently started a job packing tomatoes in a plant west of Boynton Beach, but there are days when there is no work.

Her husband, Javier Perez, works for a landscaping business.

Originally from Guatemala, the couple's native language is the Mayan tongue Mam. Ramirez, who also speaks Spanish, has considered returning to her hometown of San Marcos. But her son David, 8, who grew up in Palm Beach County, tells her he doesn't want to go.

Life in Guatemala would likely be harder, and Fredi's medical care would be inadequate, Ramirez said.

"I worry," she said, desperation in her eyes. "I worry."