Fresh heartbreak for family whose newborn baby daughter needed emergency open heart surgery as the mother now faces being DEPORTED
- Regia De Morais Silva may be deported to Brazil on July 8 when her visa expires
- She could be forced to leave behind her young daughter with a heart condition
- Both parents were made redundant during COVID-19 and can’t afford a new visa
- Here’s how to help people impacted by Covid-19
A young couple with a sick toddler could be torn apart after both parents lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic, destroying their chances of being able to save enough for a partner visa.
Regia De Morais Silva may be deported from Perth to Brazil on July 8 when her student visa runs out, leaving her partner Adam Curtis and daughter Lara behind in Perth.
The couple have no family to turn to in either country and spent their life savings on food and housing while their daughter underwent open heart surgery for congenital heart block in 2018.
Lara was diagnosed with the rare and potentially fatal condition that interferes with the way the heart beats before she was born.
Regia De Morais Silva may be deported from Perth to Brazil on July 8 when her student visa runs out, leaving her partner Adam Curtis and daughter Lara behind in Perth
When she was a newborn, Lara had a pacemaker put in her chest to regulate her heartbeat at Perth Children’s Hospital.
She was in the intensive care unit for four months, during which time her parents did not leave her side.
The couple had no financial help while their daughter had life-saving surgery, forcing Mr Curtis to sell his car during the ordeal so he could afford to put food on the table.
They managed to find work after Lara was discharged from hospital and made a plan to raise their daughter in Australia to ensure she would continue to receive the best health care.
When she was a newborn, Lara had a pacemaker put in her chest to regulate her heartbeat at Perth Children’s Hospital
She was in the intensive care unit for four months, during which time her parents did not leave her side
The new parents were saving to pay $7,700 for a partner visa before they were both made redundant when the COVID-19 crisis hit.
The couple are now desperate to keep their family together and have pleaded with the public for help.
‘We are both hardworking people and never thought it would come to this,’ they wrote on Go Fund Me.
‘But we are desperate to stop Lara’s mother from being returned to Brazil during a pandemic with no health insurance and a child with heart disease.’
The couple are now desperate to keep their family together and have pleaded with the public for help
Mr Curtis and Ms De Morais Silva will need to pay for a new pacemaker battery every five years and get the electrical leads keeping Lara alive replaced in 12 years.
‘The last thing Lara needs after all the trauma she’s been through, is to be separated,’ Mr Curtis told 7 News.
On Friday, South America was labelled the new epicentre of the COVID-19 pandemic.
There have been 21,048 fatalities in Brazil so far, with 1,188 people dying over a 24-hour period on Friday.