A stop in a brave journey

By BRIAN CASSELLA
Published June 26, 2007

TAMPA - Amid the crowds arriving at Tampa International Airport on Monday was a 5-year-old Peruvian girl who arrived here to get a new arm.

She'll get one thanks to the Shriners of Tampa and an international organization called CardioStart.

Luz Estephanie Machiavello, 5, lost her right arm in a moped accident in January. After a 14-hour journey to a hospital from her village in the jungle 300 miles from Lima, Peru, doctors were able to reattach it.

When the doctors later decided they needed to reamputate the arm, Estephanie went through three months of treatment for an infection that became gangrenous.

"She was so tired and wanted to go home, she said, 'I don't care, just cut it off, ' " said CardioStart representative Kerry Yonushonis.

Eliana Morla, a CardioStart representative in Lima, met Estephanie in the hospital and helped arrange her trip here for eight weeks of medical procedures.

The Machiavellos took a six-hour boat ride and 20-hour bus trip from their village to reach Lima this weekend. American Airlines donated the flight to Tampa.

The Shriners of Tampa have volunteered to pay for the girl's prosthetic arm as well as a new prosthesis she will need every six to eight months until she is 18.

The organization CardioStart provides education and medical supplies through volunteer teams of health care experts to countries experiencing conflict, natural disaster or economic disadvantage.

To help

Hilmer Machiavello, Luz Estephanie Machiavello's father, is a farmer and the family of six will be without his income for the next two months. Donations to help the family can be made to a CardioStart account in Estephanie's name at the Royal Bank Centura of Brandon.

[Last modified June 26, 2007, 00:16:49]