inWhatLanguage shares the sweetness of Caramelito's story

Erin Millet and Veronica Johnson with Caramelito's family.

inWhatLanguage keeps on caring, and this month our iWL Cares initiative has been focused on an amazing, tiny but incredible little girl: Adriana, lovingly known as “Caramelito”, or “little sweet” in Spanish.

Caramelito is 18 months old, but in this short time she has endured more hardships than most people do in their lifetime. She has had a cardiac arrest and a heart attack, she suffers from tachycardia and had to go through a tracheotomy.

Erin and Veronica
shopping for Caramelito

The two times she was brought to the hospital, the doctors never gave her parents any hopes for her survival. In spite of that, Adriana, with her 18 months of age, is fighting fiercely to have a place in this world. She has learned to breathe on her own, without the help of machines, and every day she moves more freely in her bed. Furthermore, she has developed her very own language with gestures and expressions to communicate with her family.

Her father lost vision in one eye during an unfortunate accident, and as a result he cannot work until he gets a proper operation. In a family of 8, two parents and 6 children, they all are extremely grateful to have the help of family and friends to get by with electricity bills and other house chores.

Adriana, or Caramelito, has learned to breathe on her own.

After hearing about this touching story, inWhatLanguage rushed on a mission to help this courageous family: the team members went to the supermarket to buy all sorts of necessities and brought them to Caramelito’s house, where they offered their assistance and got to enjoy some quality time with her family. As the only Spanish-speaker of the group, iWL Project Manager Veronica Johnson was the official spokesperson, and her impression was that of a house full of love and hope: “The parents proclaim that God sent Caramelito to them, and that she is a great blessing in their lives,” she remembers. “It was a truly touching experience.”

Veronica Johnson was the interpreter between iWL and
Caramelito's family.

“The family was very happy to have us there and thankful for all the things we brought. Their story is sad and breaks my heart, the dad even cried a couple of times, but they are making everything possible so Caramelito" can live as long as possible. They have a big heart!” she adds with a smile.

As a memento of the beautiful afternoon the inWhatLanguage team got to enjoy while shopping and visiting Caramelito’s house, here are some pictures for posterity!