gymsmile FOR ARABIANA

Arabiana Haydar Zabala is 15 years old and lives in Cartagena with her family. Since birth, she has faced a tough battle for her health.

Her mother suffered from preeclampsia during pregnancy, and Arabiana was born premature and hypoxic. She spent 6 minutes without responding while doctors fought to resuscitate her. After several days in an incubator, she was diagnosed with brain bleeding, and months later, seizures began. Over time, diagnoses arrived that would completely change her family’s life: spastic cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, and epilepsy.

At just a few months old, she had to undergo brain surgeries, including the implantation of a shunt valve. Since then, her life has been surrounded by therapies, treatments, legal injunctions (tutelas), and a constant struggle to guarantee her health rights.

Currently, Arabiana has scoliosis and needs to continue her physical and speech therapies permanently, but her healthcare provider (EPS) constantly creates barriers and denies continuity of care.

Her mother, Sandra Patricia Zabala, is a nurse by profession but decided to dedicate her life completely to taking care of her daughter. She performs many of the therapies at home herself to prevent Arabiana from losing important progress. Additionally, Arabiana’s father has also gone through a difficult battle: for years, he faced colon cancer and managed to overcome it after surgeries and chemotherapy sessions.