Valencia, Venezuela (CNN) Pain is rarely worse than when it's needless. That's something young Daniela Chacon and much of Venezuela feels now.

Daniela's eyes, peeking out between her pink woolen hat and surgical mask, drip tears of extreme pain. She can still feel the leg she had amputated a day earlier: a common syndrome known as "phantom limb."

Daniela is in pain. Her parents had to travel two hours away to try to get her medicine.

Yet this life-changing loss, one that causes her to scream as the doctors change her dressing, was needless.

Years earlier, before a government-made economic meltdown crippled the healthcare system , an early diagnosis and meager amount of chemotherapy would have been readily available in the city of Valencia and would probably have stopped Daniela's cancer, preventing any amputation, according to her doctor.

But in today's Venezuela, nothing can be relied upon. And so the doctors had to remove the cancerous leg of a 14-year-old girl to save the rest of her.

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So much of this crisis is human made. In short, Hugo Chavez, the late president, tried to found a socialist utopia, funded by high oil prices, which had the state run everything, and banished capitalism. But when oil prices collapsed, so did the dream, and now Chavez's successor, Nicolas Maduro, is presiding over a country where the government tells people how much they must pay for basic foodstuffs while failing to keep their state-provided wages high enough to buy that same food. Maduro has raised the country's minimum wage six times in the last year.

Photos: Crisis in Venezuela A costumed demonstrator in Caracas, Venezuela, protests the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Sunday, August 6. Unrest continued to sweep through the country after a new legislative assembly was inaugurated following a controversial election on July 30. The new assembly has wide-ranging powers and is expected to rewrite the Venezuelan constitution at Maduro's behest. Opposition supporters, who see the vote as a power grab and an erosion of democracy, boycotted and staged demonstrations against the vote. Hide Caption 1 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Soldiers stop a vehicle and detain its passengers on the Paramacay military base in Valencia, Venezuela, on August 6. According to authorities, two people were killed when an anti-government paramilitary attack was quelled at the base. Hide Caption 2 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Anti-government activists stand near a flaming barricade in Valencia on August 6. Hide Caption 3 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela A man is arrested in Valencia during clashes between anti-government activists and the National Guard on August 6. Hide Caption 4 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Members of the Venezuelan armed forces fly over Valencia in a helicopter while citizens demonstrate in support of a group that staged a paramilitary uprising at the Paramacay military base on August 6. Hide Caption 5 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Venezuela's Chief Prosecutor Luisa Ortega Diaz, third from left, is surrounded by employees of the General Prosecutor's office as she is barred by security forces from entering her office in Caracas on Saturday, August 5. Hide Caption 6 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Diosdado Cabello, a member of Venezuela's National Constituent Assembly, holds an image of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez as delegates gather for a group photo following their swearing-in ceremony on Friday, August 4. Hide Caption 7 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Opposition activists protest against the newly inaugurated National Constituent Assembly on August 4. Hide Caption 8 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela A woman in Caracas attends a vigil Monday, July 31, for anti-government activists who have died in the country's recent unrest. More than 120 people have been killed in Venezuela since early April, according to the attorney general's office. Hide Caption 9 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Opposition lawmaker Juan Requesens addresses a rally in Caracas on July 31. Two other leading opposition figures, Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma, were rounded up from their homes, according to their families. Hide Caption 10 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Maduro celebrates the results of a national vote on Sunday, July 30. His opponents boycotted the election and demonstrated against it for weeks, saying he orchestrated it to get around the existing National Assembly, which the opposition has controlled since 2015. Maduro has argued that the Constituent Assembly will help bring peace to a polarized country, with all branches of the government falling under the political movement founded by his late mentor and predecessor, Hugo Chavez. Hide Caption 11 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Members of Venezuela's national police are caught in an explosion as they ride motorcycles near Altamira Square in Caracas on July 30. Venezuela has seen widespread unrest since March 29, when the Supreme Court dissolved Parliament and transferred all legislative powers to itself. The decision was later reversed, but protests have continued across the country, which is also in the midst of an economic crisis. Hide Caption 12 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela A wounded anti-government demonstrator is helped by medics during clashes with police in Caracas on July 30. Hide Caption 13 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela A demonstrator shouts slogans through a traffic cone during an anti-government protest in Caracas on July 30. Hide Caption 14 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela A protester wounded by a pellet gun receives attention July 30 during a demonstration against the vote for a Constituent Assembly. Hide Caption 15 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela A member of the National Guard fires at protesters during clashes in Caracas on Friday, July 28. Hide Caption 16 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela A demonstrator dressed as Venezuelan independence hero Simon Bolivar is silhouetted against a national flag in Caracas on Monday, July 24. Hide Caption 17 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Venezuelan police Officer Oscar Perez joins in an anti-government protest in Caracas on Thursday, July 13. Perez allegedly piloted a stolen police helicopter used to attack the Venezuelan Supreme Court with grenades on June 27. Hide Caption 18 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Venezuelan lawmakers Luis Stefanelli, left, and Jose Regnault appear stunned in a corridor of the National Assembly after a clash with demonstrators in Caracas on Wednesday, July 5. Supporters of Maduro stormed the building and attacked opposition lawmakers, witnesses said. At least seven legislative employees and five lawmakers were injured, according to National Assembly President Julio Borges. Journalists said they were also assaulted. Hide Caption 19 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela National Guard members clash with deputies of the National Assembly in the Parliament's courtyard in Caracas on Tuesday, June 27. Hide Caption 20 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela A boy runs under a national flag during a June 27 protest in Caracas. Hide Caption 21 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Protesters tear down a fence at the La Carlota airbase outside Caracas on Friday, June 23. A soldier shot a demonstrator through the fence at the base on the previous day, killing him. Hide Caption 22 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Hide Caption 23 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Protester David Jose Vallenilla is shot through a fence by a member of the National Guard near a military base in Caracas on Thursday, June 22. Vallenilla later died in the hospital after suffering three gunshot wounds to the chest. Hide Caption 24 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Maduro holds up a copy of the Venezuelan constitution during a news conference at the presidential palace in Caracas on June 22. Maduro has called for changes to the constitution amid the unrest. Hide Caption 25 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela A protester hides behind a barrier in Caracas on June 22. Hide Caption 26 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela An opposition activist displays bullet shells during an anti-government demonstration on Monday, June 19. Hide Caption 27 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela People flee during a clash between opposition demonstrators and riot police in Caracas on June 19. Hide Caption 28 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Opposition activists aim projectiles toward riot police during a demonstration on June 19. Hide Caption 29 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Demonstrators stand in front of a police vehicle on June 19. Hide Caption 30 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela A street in eastern Caracas is painted with the names of people killed during more than two months of protests. Hide Caption 31 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela During a "Grandparents' March" in Caracas, a man is blocked by police from reaching the Government Ombudsman's Office on Friday, May 12. Hide Caption 32 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Opposition activists scuffle with riot police in Caracas on May 12. Hide Caption 33 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Thousands of Venezuelan protesters march on a Caracas highway on Wednesday, May 10. Hide Caption 34 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Opposition activists clash with riot police in Caracas on Monday, May 8. Hide Caption 35 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Hide Caption 36 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela An armored National Guard vehicle runs over a protester in Caracas on Wednesday, May 3. The protester, 22-year-old Pedro Michell Yaminne, survived, his mother told CNN. Interior and justice minister Nestor Reverol told reporters that the "lamentable" incident was under investigation. He said that moments before Yaminne was run over, demonstrators hurled a Molotov cocktail at the armored vehicle, opened the side door and "brutally assaulted" the driver. Hide Caption 37 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela A demonstrator catches fire during protests in Caracas on May 3. It happened as protesters clashed with police and the gas tank of a police motorcycle exploded. Other photos from the scene showed the man being attended for burns to his body. Hide Caption 38 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela A demonstrator stands in front of an armored vehicle during protests in Caracas on Wednesday, April 19. Hide Caption 39 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Opposition leader Henrique Capriles reacts to tear gas during a protest on April 19. Hide Caption 40 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Riot police clash with demonstrators while tear gas fills the air in Caracas on April 19. Hide Caption 41 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Rescue workers tend to a demonstrator hit by a tear gas canister during anti-government protests on April 19. Hide Caption 42 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela A demonstrator reacts during a march in Caracas on Saturday, April 15. Hide Caption 43 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela A protester suffering from the effects of tear gas is carried away on Thursday, April 13. Hide Caption 44 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Clouds of tear gas spread across a highway in Caracas during clashes on Monday, April 10. Hide Caption 45 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Demonstrators help a journalist whose leg was injured while covering clashes in Caracas on April 10. Hide Caption 46 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Thousands of demonstrators protest against Maduro in Caracas on Saturday, April 8. Hide Caption 47 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Venezuelan police line up before clashing with opposition activists on Thursday, April 6. Hide Caption 48 of 49 Photos: Crisis in Venezuela Demonstrators fight with national police officers in Caracas on Tuesday, April 4. Hide Caption 49 of 49

The government also intimidates and restricts the media here, taking CNN's sister network CNN en Español off the air. We had to go in undercover to report, and much of our work was done covertly to avoid arrest.

We saw how basic life for ordinary Venezuelans has fallen far and fast. It's now common to see piles of trash accumulating on the street picked through by the hungry -- people who only a few years ago would never have considered the scarcity of food as a daily problem.

Because Venezuela was not historically poor. But it certainly is now.

For the weakest and most vulnerable like Daniela, the pain is most acute. Doctors working pro bono in this private clinic took the drastic step of amputating the leg, fearing the osteosarcoma cancer in her tibia would otherwise spread.

Dr. Ruben Limas, changing her dressing painstakingly with his wife Rosa Silva Marthez, also a doctor, said: "It is a dramatic situation as a father, and as a doctor, to have to amputate a child's limb when she is only 14. The survival rate in any Latin American country today would be about 70 percent, but because we lack the equipment to make early detection, it's 30 percent."

Daniela feels pain in her missing leg, amputated because there was no early detection of her cancer or medicine to treat it.

Daniela's eyes come alight when she talks of her main passion, language, and the app she found to help her learn English. But she is still struggling with the permanent change that happened just the day before.

"It feels strange because I feel a leg that isn't there," she says.

She recounts the months of suffering she endured until she got a diagnosis. She describes how her parents had to go to the capital, Caracas, to look for medicine, and how when they managed to find it, it was so expensive.

Her thin frame is a sign of the struggle she has already endured.

Daniela was treated in the cold, clean and tidy ward of a private clinic with staff volunteering to help those most acutely in need.

Elsewhere in Valencia, a city two hours' drive from Caracas, the situation is even more bleak.

There is no precedent to the lack of medicine, the lack of medical supplies, the deterioration of the hospitals, the deterioration of the way they treat doctors. Dr. Ricardo Rubio, anesthesiologist in Valencia

In the main public hospital, we are allowed access, albeit briefly, to see shelves empty of basic medication, appalling hygiene that medics believe has caused infections in the hospital to rise and patients who have brought their own medication.

One man -- his chest injured in the recent protests -- has a crude tube draining his wound into a cut-down water bottle.

A young anesthesiologist, Dr. Ricardo Rubio, says: "There is no precedent to the lack of medicine, the lack of medical supplies, the deterioration of the hospitals, the deterioration of the way they treat doctors."

Nurses chime in, complaining about the lack of basic but vital items like gloves and masks.

Drive through the streets of Valencia and you pass signs of a society in rapid collapse. On one main road, the body of a young man still twitches after he was shot. Around him, police and pedestrians mill, listlessly, as if the event is mundane.

The Dias family welcomed us to their home, as Jennifer ate their first rice in a week.

Drive into the slums and the more acute nature of the lack of basic utilities emerges.

The Dias family live next to the spillage of a sewer. Curtains draped across doorways of their cinder-block home hide some of their world from the street outside.

When I work more, I try to get them more food. But everything is so expensive. Gayla Salazar

Inside, they make candies from coconuts to sell and to feed themselves. It is sticky and grimy, but the day we visit is special: The family has rice for the first time in a week.

Gayla Salazar, 30, explains the excitement of her daughters. Normally they get yucca for breakfast, but they don't much care for the root, so even plain rice is a welcome change.

"This is our situation," Salazar says. "I work for myself and it's hard for me to get other food. Things are expensive."

Denis Ester Dias and her husband struggle to provide food for their family.

Denis Ester Dias, 58, the family matriarch, adds: "Sugar -- it's too expensive, and the coconut I bought for 1,500 bolivares." At the exchange rate we saw on the black market, that's only about 33 cents, but in real life for the Dias family and others, it's astronomically expensive.

Wages simply can't keep up. "My husband isn't working," Dias says, "and what he does earn (when he is working) isn't sufficient -- 20,000 bolivares a week." That's about 13 coconuts.

Dias remembers a time when life was better, but for her that was 30 years ago. For her children and especially her grandchildren, this is all they know.

The littlest member of the family, three-year-old Jennifer, demonstrates this by proudly saying her family has pineapples. She goes to the refrigerator, opens the door and reveals it contains two of the aging fruits ... and nothing else.

For three-year-old Jennifer, a fridge with nothing but two old pineapples is normal.

Jennifer says she likes rice a lot, while her older sister Daniela concedes she misses having meat and pasta.

Salazar adds: "I grab rice and a few eggs for the girls. When I work more, I try to get them more food. But everything is so expensive. One carton of milk is 35,000 bolivares." That's over 10 days' work for the girls' grandfather.

Venezuela's government has repeatedly said its problems have been exaggerated by hostile foreign media. It says the drop in oil prices and actions of opposition-friendly tycoons have added to their problems.

For the Dias family, food isn't the only necessity in painfully short supply. The house has no running water, so all water -- to drink, to cook, to wash -- must be brought in. And of course it is expensive, too.

Dias opens the lid of a blue plastic barrel to reveal about an inch of water inside.

"The [water] trucks haven't gone by" for a while, she laments. "Smaller containers are hundreds of bolivares, but this," she says, pointing to the barrel, "is 2,000 bolivares." Just under a day's work for her husband.

The mathematics seem surreal, almost unfathomable. Their need is so much, prices are so high and work is so limited. But for this family, enduring dirt, hunger and poverty hourly, the impact is very real.