Featured CDH International’s Mexico Ambassador is Patricia Reina. Patricia is the mother to CDH survivor Daniel.
Patricia was born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela. She went to dental school and did an Advanced Education for General Dentists postgraduate program (AEGD) in Caracas. In 2004, she moved with her husband to New York City where she attended NYU College of Dentistry for her Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics residency. Patricia graduated in 2007 and was Board Certified that year. That same year, she started a fellowship in Craniofacial Orthodontics at the Institute for Reconstructive and Plastic Surgery at NYU Langone Medical Center, where she learned to treat children with craniofacial anomalies and syndromes. Once her fellowship was done, they moved to Mexico City in June 2008. She obtained dental licenses in Florida and Texas in 2010.
Luis, their first child was born in 2012. And in 2015, their youngest son Daniel was born. They learned about Daniel’s left-sided CDH in a 29-week 3D ultrasound and from that moment on they braced for the worse. It wasn’t obvious in any of the previous scans, they checked every scan with MFM doctors. Daniel was born on February 4th, 2015 at the American British Cowdray (ABC) Medical Center in Mexico City. He was immediately intubated and taken to the NICU. His surgeon, Dr. Gustavo Varela Fascinetto, a Harvard trained pediatric surgeon informed them the next day that their baby was doing better than expected and was ready for surgery. He had his hernia repair at 30 hours post birth. At the surgery, the doctors discovered the reason for Daniel’s hernia being “hidden” until later in the pregnancy: the pleura and the peritonium were fused and saved Daniel’s lung development. Daniel left the hospital 3 weeks after being born with no sequalae from his hernia.
They are aware of how incredibly blessed they have been with Daniel who today is a healthy and happy 5-year-old. They just had his 5-year check-up with his pediatric cardiologist who said he has no pulmonary hypertension, that the lungs and heart are functioning to a 100%. As of today, Patricia is the owner of a dental practice that is affiliated with the ABC Medical Center. She likes to spend her free time doing yoga, reading, cooking for friends and family, and of course being extremely grateful to get to see her boy growing happy and healthy.
