Miracle stories abound during Santo Niño’s annual visit to Santa Paula
For as long as he’s been alive, Pedro Salceda has needed miracles. Lots of them.
While still in his mother’s womb, doctors discovered he had gastroschisis, a condition where a hole in his abdomen caused his intestines to develop outside his body. As soon as he was born, surgeons worked to put his intestines back into his abdomen – only to find them riddled with small holes in some places and blocked in others.
They managed to save Pedro’s life, but doctors told his parents he wouldn’t live past his fourth birthday.
But early on a recent Saturday morning, 25 years and 10 surgeries later, Pedro put on his LA Football Club jersey and got in a car with his mother and father, Gerardo and Claudia, for the three-hour drive from San Diego to Santa Paula, California.