Costa Rican mother reflects on heart procedure for newborn in Houston: 'We didn’t have the money, but we wanted to save our baby'

Thanksgiving may have been a couple of weeks ago, but a couple from Costa Rica is counting their blessings that their infant son has been given a second lease on life, Houston CBS affiliate KHOU reported. 

The kindness of strangers made it possible for baby Arturo and his parents to fly to Houston for a much-needed, lifesaving heart procedure at Texas Children’s Hospital, the station reported.

KHOU reported that Arturo was recently born after so many years in which Catherine Castro and her spouse, Jorge, attempted to conceive to no avail. 

As much as Arturo’s parents were overjoyed to finally start a family, they then received some unwelcome news: Their son had a heart problem that required a 1,530-mile journey to the U.S. 

“That’s when the nightmare started," the boy’s mother recalled to KHOU.

Per the report, the health care system in Costa Rica couldn’t help Arturo, but his family’s doctors contacted their counterparts in the fourth-largest city in the U.S. 

“We didn’t have the money, but we wanted to save our baby,” Castro said, KHOU reported. “So we just moved mountains to get here." 

A GoFundMe page was set up, raking in close to $200,000 in donations from around the world.

The three were able to travel to Houston, for which Castro expressed immense gratitude. 

KHOU reported that Arturo underwent the surgery on Friday to much success and is on the road to recovery. 

“I think what we’re going to tell Arturo is 'Honey, you moved hearts,'” Castro told the station.