Father Keane encountered Madeline during his July 2006 trip to El Salvador when her mother came to thank Father for TLAU’s supporting Lydia, Madeline’s older sister, through the becados program. She was extremely small for her age, 13 pounds at one year, because she had a hole in her heart–a ventricular septal defect that could only be treated with surgery. However, because of her family’s poverty, surgery was an impossibility. So Father Keane began talking to parishioners in North Carolina, particularly at St. Mark parish in Wilmington and St. Patrick parish in Fayetteville, and before long he had almost $19,000 from nearly 45 different individuals and even a few children holding a yard sale.

Madeline had her surgery on Friday, December 8th.

Father Keane has been keeping notes on her situation since he met her. To read them, click HERE.

Here are more PHOTOS of Madeline.