Wilson

It was the pregnant pause on the phone line that I knew was the deciding factor in what would turn into a life changing event for two people I barely knew 48 hours ago.




I had called the apply-for-a-visa line at the US Embassy in Santo Domingo and the woman was very polite but very methodical and obviously versed in all she was saying. She clearly had much experience in taking information from all sorts of people desiring to enter the USA. I was just another voice until the question got asked. The question I was asked was simply why do you want to go to the USA?




The phone call was precipitated by the fact that we were applying for a visa for a just turned nine year old boy and his mom, in fact the day before I called the embassy was his birthday. Little Wilson has a perforated anus and a fistula in his urinary tract. Essentially since he was born he has needed to use a colostomy bag. The feelings of embarrassment he has are clear by the way he is around people. He is quite shy, friendly but very timid. I have never spent any time around Wilson until the van ride to the embassy. It was during that two hour bus ride I started to understand why he would be embarrassed. Literally, he is regularly changing a pamper every hour or so. Some times more. He can’t always empty his colostomy bag so when you put these two things together with regular bodily functions there is an odor that is created. Many times there is also an infection that is created. Wilson is regularly sick fighting off disease and health problems, along with the people who make fun of him.




I called Tatiana and invited her to the ministry house the moment we had all of the papers in line. This in and of itself was a difficult task. Credit goes to Vicki Rogers and Josanne Johnson on GO’s staff who presented this case to the board at Kosairs Children’s Hospital in Louisville KY. There was a video assembled by Amanda Braistad too but the man behind the scene who wishes to remain anonymous was the person who coordinated the doctors giving of their time and talent to assist Wilson. Many times we do not see the people behind the scenes doing the work.




Trying to get paperwork completed here in the DR is at times futile. We attempted to get a doctor who did surgery on Wilson to write a letter saying that it was best for Wilson to be treated in the USA. That surgeon would not, nor would the other surgeon who operated on Wilson. The one doctor operated on Wilson twice and told us that if he was to operate on Wilson again that he would have no more than a 50% chance to leave the operating table alive. Yet he would not write a letter giving this young boy a better chance. What drives that doctor? What runs through his mind? What is his thought pattern?




Since we could not get the letters we decided to proclaim the GO Ministries doctor, Vladimir Rosario Canela, Wilson’s primary care physician and have him write the letter with the details. We also could not get copies of the surgery or doctors visits for Wilson. Even though the law states the patient has a right to those documents they would not be released to Wilson’s mom. With little time to spare we just did what we had to.




The call to the embassy was a very methodical until the woman asked why do you want to go to the United States. I blurted it out, even though I had practiced what to say, to the woman I am applying for a visa for Wilson because he was born without an anus and he has had three reconstructive surgeries that have all failed. There was not another dogmatic responsive question from the woman, there was simply that eerie silence where time seems like it is racing by but it really only was about 7 or 8 seconds.




I said, "hello". The woman said in a softened yet agitated voice that I took as her being mad nothing was done to help this little guy, "Is there anything else I need to know about him?" I shared a little bit about his mom and that she needed to go also and then the woman got back into the methodical questioning. I had a sneaking suspicion at that point that he was going to be approved.