*TRIGGER WARNING: This story mentions intense violence and threats to a child with a severe disability and may be difficult to read.*
Scroll through the gallery above to see images of Yordy and Denia in their home and the support they’ve received through CWS
“You have 24 hours to leave your home and if not, we will come here and kill you.”
This was the final phrase Denia heard before she left her home in Honduras, a home that, for most of her life, had been a place of comfort and love for her and her three children. Here, she watched her oldest son grow up and obtain a stable job and her oldest daughter get accepted into nursing school. In this home, Denia also spent her days with her youngest son, whom she considers her “life companion,” Yordy.
This beautiful life in the country they loved so deeply began deteriorating when gang violence placed their community in a chokehold. “Every day we were forced to hide because of the gunfire,” said Denia. “We had to take the metro, and it was always full of armed gang members, and we just had to pray to God for protection; there was nothing else we could do. We had to adapt to that life.”
Adaptation and resilience were not new for Denia or Yordy, who has had to fight for his life since birth. “When he was born, he was in the ICU. He had all of these machines hooked up to him and at one point, the doctors told me there was no more they could do. The only access I had to him was a small touch on his hands. I couldn’t even carry him. I spoke to him then and told him how strong and brave he was, that he should keep fighting. And he lived.” Now at fifteen years old, Yordy has not allowed his disability to prevent him from living a joyful life. With the blink of his eyes, he communicates “yes” or “no” to his mom and his most prominent feature is his smile, which refuses to leave his face, especially when, filled with delight, he lays his eyes on his mom.
Located on the “border” between two rival gangs, the area where the family lived became a hot spot for violence between the gangs. It wasn’t long before the gangs turned their attention away from each other and onto the family, whose house was seen as the peak spot to surveil one another. This was when Denia received the final threat that forced her to leave her beloved home.
While Denia’s oldest children decided to stay and seek safety within their country, Denia recognized that Yordy’s disability prevented him from having this choice. Yordy, who had previously been able to attend a school for children with disabilities, no longer had this option and a life in hiding was not the full life that either of them deserved. Fueled by the strength Yordy gave her, Denia decided to make the journey to the United States.
Denia recalled that the first half of the 19-day journey from Honduras to Mexico was challenging, but not impossible, since she and Yordy were, for the most part, able to go from bus to bus. When they arrived in Mexico, however, the weight of the journey began to test Denia. Without a wheelchair for Yordy, Denia carried her son the entire time, and the two often spent many nights sleeping on floors and days in which they had nothing to eat.
Eventually, they made it to Monterrey, where, along with 20 other individuals, they spent eight hours packed in a truck headed to Reynosa. Denia recalled the harrowing experience sharing, “We rode in a truck that was closed except for a part on the top to let air in. We didn’t know where we were; we just saw the darkness of the sky. I remember covering Yordy’s face with a sweater and scarf and meanwhile, I could feel insects falling into the truck with us and crawling all over me.”
The relief Denia felt when they got off that truck was short-lived as they began the next leg of their journey, a four-hour walk across the desert in the middle of May. Denia walked with two other women who were pregnant and one teenage girl who, despite being strangers, became a solidified group in those four treacherous hours. “I remember that I felt I couldn’t keep going, and I told the other women ‘go without me,’ but they said ‘we’re not leaving you, we’ll wait for you,’ but my back and legs just couldn’t keep going. We walked and walked, and I prayed to God. Once we arrived, we were told that immigration would be there, but they weren’t. I saw a bridge in the distance so I told the women, ‘I’m walking to that bridge but once I get there, I will stay there.’”
At the bridge, Denia waited with Yordy in her arms and felt overcome with emotion. “I felt so regretful, and I just begged Yordy for his forgiveness because I never intended for him to suffer. I felt that this was all my fault.” After two hours, the pair were finally processed and approved to arrive in the United States to begin their asylum process.
In their new life in Houston, Denia had to navigate various bureaucratic systems, a foreign language and a new country, all while ensuring Yordy was healthy. Unfortunately, without the medication he had been taking in Honduras, Yordy became severely dehydrated and was taken to the local children’s hospital, where he resided for 47 days. Denia felt heartbroken for her son, but she found hope in Yordy’s smile and the phrase that had been a constant for her throughout her life: “Everything in life has a purpose.” After those 47 days, the doctors not only treated Yordy’s dehydration but identified and treated previous conditions that had never been identified by his doctors in Honduras. “If we had stayed in Honduras, he probably would have died from these conditions,” Denia said.
The following months continued to be difficult and involved many more hospital visits but Denia stated, “God never abandoned me,” sharing that Yordy was able to get a wheelchair and life-saving surgery for a feeding tube and has since been the healthiest she has ever seen him. During these months, Denia received a text message one day from CWS to let her know she had qualified for the Case Management Pilot Program. Graciela Unes, CWS’ New Arrival Coordinator, shared that since entering the program, “the family received assistance for diapers for her son, transportation, metro cards, furniture, jackets, bed sheets, gift cards and rent assistance.” The family also has a case manager who is available to support them as additional needs arise and is currently helping Denia register Yordy in school. While there are still many barriers they need to overcome, Denia shared that this support has been a “blessing” and has given them a fair shot at the safe and healthy life they desire.
Throughout their life together, Yordy has displayed a type of courageous joy that has completely taken down any challenges they have had to face. Denia reflected, “No matter what was happening, I would look at him and he would give me a smile and my whole world would change. For him, there is no such thing as sadness, just smiles and smiles.” On their journey to the United States, Denia would often tell Yordy, “‘You are my journey companion, you are my life partner, you will always be with mom, we will always be together. She added, “God knew I needed a companion, and he sent me Yordy.” Though their journey is far from over, two things are certain: Yordy will continue to smile, and Denia and Yordy will continue to move forward, drawing from their greatest strength: each other.
You can learn more about the CWS Houston office and how you can support families like Denia and Yordy by clicking here. To contribute to CWS’ life-saving programs, click here.