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For those of you who don't know me, I'm David, a primary school teacher in London, having gone on a holiday to Brazil last summer. During one of our many visits to the beach in Rio De Janeiro, Rafael, my 6 year old son made friends with a little Brazilian girl called Laura, and since then we've got to know her family. So over the last few months, I've been learning about the sad story of Laura's little brother, Bernardo who is 2 and a half. He is currently just out of hospital as a result of a condition called hydrocephalus. This basically means he has an accumulation of spinal fluid on the brain which has caused a very real threat to his health. Since I met his family, he's been in and out of intensive care and had been in hospital for months now. Fortunately, with the help of Crowdfunding, his family was able to just about scrape together enough to pay for an operation a short while ago to remove the build up of fluid on his brain by installing a valve. Before that Bernardo was at risk of cardiac arrest. Tragically, after that, he suffered an aneurism, and his family are now deep in debt having to pay for the surgery which saved his life after this, after which he was in coma for some time.
Just before Christmas, they were able to get Bernardo out of hospital, where he had been every night for about 3 months (aged only 2).
For those who haven't been to Brazil, it is very much the haves and the have nots and the have nots don't have even the healthcare they need to, in some cases, survive. They of course have no NHS in the same way as we do. Since I've known Bernardo's mum, she has lost her home, evicted because of paying all her money to the hospital for the last operation to keep Bernardo alive. Sadly, this also means that Bernardo has not been given the wheelchair he needs to support his damaged spine. Without this, he cannot sit up properly, meaning that he needs to be constantly on the lap of an adult. He is aged 2 and a half, and if he cannot get the wheelchair soon, it will cause more damage to his spine.
Below I've copied an appeal from his mum, copied through Google Translate
Hello everyone my name is Andreza. Some people here helped me already. I have been facing serious difficulties with my son Bernardo who was born with hydrocephalus. With the help of some friends and relatives of David I was able to perform his surgery.
But as I had mentioned the fight did not stop there .. unfortunately Bernardo does not walk yet and does not speak, because of his illness .. So I would like to ask you again for help so that we can reach another obstacle and win!
Today Bernardo needs a wheelchair. It will be of great help to him, outside the fatigue that where we go we have to carry him in my lap everywhere. He does not fit inside the buggy, so we have great difficulties
His doctors asked us to use a special one for him to strengthen his spine so that in the future he could wear boots and walk.
So I came here humbly to ask again for help from friends, colleagues and family members who can help us achieve this goal!
From now on I thank those who can help and those who can not. I hope God blesses your life!
As you can see from the pictures and videos, Bernardo can not sit up at all on his own. This means that for every waking minute he is either bed ridden, or has to be held up. The wheelchair is a special one which has straps to hold his back up. The doctors said that this can help to correct his spine. His mum is concerned at the moment that his back is causing him a lot of pain, he is suffering a lot and the doctors have said that the wheelchair will help this. Here is the model https://cirurgicapassos.com.br/carrinho-star-baby-vermelho-9487-assento-30cm-cadeira-de-rodas-baxmann-jagu.html
Since the last campaign I did for Bernardo, his family have had a really rough time. He had an aneurysm for which he needed urgent, costly, life saving surgery and now his family have a huge debt pay off, and they really have no way of buying this wheelchair that he needs urgently. He will need ongoing physical therapy throughout his childhood. Hopefully this wheelchair will put him on the right track.
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