Jorgé Regains His Life with Upper Airway Reconstruction
By Jorgé, Sr., a Children’s National parent
My son Jorgé is a lovely 11-year-old kid. He has many friends and always helps other people. He loves to play basketball and American football. We live in Mexico, about four hours south of El Paso, Texas.
Last summer, Jorgé visited a friend's ranch. The boys went out exploring a remote area on all-terrain vehicles. Jorgé didn’t see a wire fence and drove right into it. The wire caught his neck and he landed on the ground. Later, Jorgé told me he felt like the world had ended. He couldn’t breathe. His friend carried him back three miles on the other vehicle. The drive to the hospital was three hours. All we could do was pray. It was a miracle he held on.
Surgery to repair the serious injury to Jorgé’s neck and trachea saved his life. Months later, however, his life was not the same. Scar tissue in his airway made breathing difficult and he couldn’t play or run up the stairs without sitting down to rest. Even though he survived the accident, for him, it was like he had lost his life. This was stressful for our whole family.
I researched the best doctors and found Diego Preciado, MD, PhD, at Children’s National Hospital. During our first video conference, he really seemed to care about helping Jorgé and invited us to come to Washington, D.C., for an endoscopy and maybe surgery.
Jorgé was really scared. But everything about Dr. Preciado made my son feel comfortable, especially his explanations in perfect Spanish. Soon we scheduled a laryngotracheoplasty. This is a complicated upper airway reconstructive procedure for patients with severe airway obstruction.
Dr. Preciado and everyone at the hospital understood that we were far from home and going through a very tough time. We trusted them, and they took the best care of us. Now Jorgé is back to playing basketball and soccer with his friends. Care from Dr. Preciado and his team got Jorgé back to living a normal life. We will always be grateful.
Last summer, Jorgé visited a friend's ranch. The boys went out exploring a remote area on all-terrain vehicles. Jorgé didn’t see a wire fence and drove right into it. The wire caught his neck and he landed on the ground. Later, Jorgé told me he felt like the world had ended. He couldn’t breathe. His friend carried him back three miles on the other vehicle. The drive to the hospital was three hours. All we could do was pray. It was a miracle he held on.
Surgery to repair the serious injury to Jorgé’s neck and trachea saved his life. Months later, however, his life was not the same. Scar tissue in his airway made breathing difficult and he couldn’t play or run up the stairs without sitting down to rest. Even though he survived the accident, for him, it was like he had lost his life. This was stressful for our whole family.
I researched the best doctors and found Diego Preciado, MD, PhD, at Children’s National Hospital. During our first video conference, he really seemed to care about helping Jorgé and invited us to come to Washington, D.C., for an endoscopy and maybe surgery.
Jorgé was really scared. But everything about Dr. Preciado made my son feel comfortable, especially his explanations in perfect Spanish. Soon we scheduled a laryngotracheoplasty. This is a complicated upper airway reconstructive procedure for patients with severe airway obstruction.
Dr. Preciado and everyone at the hospital understood that we were far from home and going through a very tough time. We trusted them, and they took the best care of us. Now Jorgé is back to playing basketball and soccer with his friends. Care from Dr. Preciado and his team got Jorgé back to living a normal life. We will always be grateful.
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