Richard Pretzlaff
Sponsor: Harrison Marketing

Texas
Roberto (Age 16)
Multiple Birth Defects

Roberto is a typical 16-year-old in many ways. He loves talking on the phone with friends and riding bikes and motorcycles. He enjoys video games, listening to music, and singing aloud, and whenever he gets the chance to go to sporting events he watches each game in wide-eyed excitement.

But despite being a teenager in years, Roberto has the body of a 10-year-old boy stemming from a number of birth defects collectively known as Vaters syndrome. At birth he had only one lung and his esophagus and stomach were not connected. Years ago, Roberto’s condition was not treatable and the survival rate was zero. Thanks to procedures pioneered at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital, including titanium rib surgeries, have kept Roberto and others like him alive, giving them hope and life.

Roberto gets through his challenges with extraordinary faith. When asked by a TV station what he would say to other children going through similar difficulties, Roberto said to tell them to pray for strength and courage. This seems to be the motto by which Roberto lives: No matter what struggles may come, never lose faith.