At thirty-four years of age, Sylvia* found herself in desperate need of help. Pregnant with her fifth child, her boyfriend had left her abandoned and helpless.

When she first connected with Threads of Hope Organization—a group that helps former victims of trafficking—three of Sylvia’s four children were living with her mother in the Dominican Republic, where she had grown up. Because Sylvia couldn’t speak Greek, we helped her by scheduling all necessary tests and also arranged that she be monitored by a gynecologist.

Her first tests revealed that she might have been infected with the CMV virus, which can affect the development of a baby and at times is even fatal. To complicate matters, all her previous births had been cesarean sections, and another such surgery was extremely dangerous. Nevertheless, we managed to find her care in a public hospital by a team of experienced gynecologists. To everyone's great relief—especially mom’s—an ultrasound revealed that the baby was developing normally!

A month later Sylvia decided to leave for Spain, where she knew the language and where it would be easier to find her way. Then we received the joyous news: she had given birth to a healthy baby boy, Sebastian, and the surgery had gone well! We are happy because we stood by her side in one of the most difficult phases of her life!

* the name has been changed for protection reasons