My name is Jose Ignacio Rodriguez, I am a paediatrician
and when all this happened in the year 2003
I was one of the resident doctors in the intensive care unit.
It cannot be that all this means nothing,
all this effort we are making all these prayers we have offered
for him to go to heaven.
Yes, great! He should go to heaven, but I wanted him here!
We got to the clinic, and I saw my daughter who was embracing her father in law,
she was crying,
and I said: “The worst has happened.”
And I was devastated thinking
that he could die.
Susana, Jose Ignacio’s mother, asked me at some point:
Has Jose Ignacio died?
And I said yes.
With Jose Ignacio I think that all of us there did all we technically could:
but there was something that wasn’t done by us.
Susana and Javier were happy expecting the arrival of their second child,
but in that summer of 2003,
some news would change their lives forever.
We carried out with Javier an ultrasound scan and the doctor came and said
“There is something wrong here.
This baby could be born with an intestinal hernia,
which means his intestines will be outside his body”.
The doctor explained that the abdominal wall of Jose Ignacio did not close properly.
My mother was waiting for us
and I remember I embraced her and she said:
“Pray to bishop Alvaro”
I had had an operation before and had always been accompanied by bishop Alvaro
I felt him at my side, I always felt him to be very close…
I knew he was going to give us a sign.
I didn’t know bishop Alvaro that well.
I mean, for me it was: “If mum says so, it’s because she knows.”
And we started to pray to bishop Alvaro.
He was born on July 10, 2003.
On July 12, 2003, he had an operation to close his abdominal wall
and he suffered a massive crisis during the operation.
The doctors couldn’t see things properly
and put the things in his stomach in order,
they had to close him up quickly, I don’t know,
and this provoked a heart problem a massive heart problem.
Within the cardiological evaluation
we find that in fact he also had a congenital heart disease,
which was relatively severe, called the tetralogy of Fallot.
His heart would fail, not giving oxygen to his vital organs.
His brain was progressively damaged.
Despite his age and small size, he had to be operated on urgently.
Jose Ignacio’s response to surgery was relatively good.
The operation went very well.
We had to wait 48 hours
in order to be sure that his recovery was working well.
One is filled with happiness and says: “Good, everything is working.”
I mean, really, we never thought that something else would go wrong.
He had not had problems, but that day
that Saturday, it must have been around one in the afternoon,
he was being visited by Dr Frangini
who was the duty doctor,
and Jose Ignacio’s heartbeat went right down
until it finally stopped.
We were in the house of my in-laws at 2.30 in the afternoon more or less,
when they phoned. And when they called
they asked us to please go to the hospital,
as Jose Ignacio was not well.
Susana goes into the room where the baby was.
The doctor comes in and says to me:
“The fact is that he is not well. we are reviving him.”
And she comes out crying and saying, “he’s dying!”
At that moment, really, I lost all feeling in my body
I don’t remember well, but I know I embraced my father in law and told him he was dying,
and in my mind I prayed the prayer-card while I was in the arms of my father in law.
I saw her praying in a very impressive way,
she had such incredible faith and fervour!
The whole of Susana’s family where there. I sat down
with Susana, in a corner of the waiting room,
praying and praying the prayer-card.
We continued trying to revive his heart in a sustained manner, without stopping.
After 30 minutes we simply saw that there was no improvement,
so we started slowing down
and without…
without any explanation,
Jose Ignacio’s heart starting beating
progressively and in a sustained way.
And now you have him with you and with us.
In a short time, we gave him more than once
the total volume of blood that he had.
A baby with a cardiac arrest lasting a lot less time,
the fact is that often, he can remain with severe brain damage,
which will greatly limit his development.
He shouldn’t be walking, he shouldn’t be running, he shouldn’t be jumping.
Everything in him is a miracle!
Jose Ignacio was, and is, one more at school.
Because he has a great sense of hearing and visual retention.
I ask myself why, why were we so privileged?
I ask myself this every day,
I cannot forget it.
So in our house, Bishop Alvaro is very much part of our life.
In fact, that’s why our younger son is called Alvaro,
in gratefulness to him.
I am someone who has
an unstable relationship with faith, I don’t know how to say it,
I always have an open door,
and perhaps this is a greater openness of that door.
Jose Ignacio is currently 10 years old and is in third grade at school.
He lives a normal life, like any other boy of his age.