He weighed 980 grams at birth, has cerebral palsy and is learning to play football

Cerebral palsy is a congenital disorder and a characteristic common to all people who have it is difficulty in moving around. It is a problem that affects one in 500 people, according to international statistics from developed countries. It is estimated that the frequency in Argentina may be even higher.

Today, in more than 75 countries around the world, World Cerebral Palsy Day is commemorated, a day to reflect, know, learn and promote rights and opportunities.

“For us it is a special day, because the rest of the year we dedicate ourselves to this cause, with love, professionalism, progress and technology,” said Victoria Campos Malbrán, President of the Association for Defense of the Neurological Infant (AEDIN), a non-profit civil association dedicated to the education and treatment of children and young people with neurological disorders, for 30 years he worked under the motto “we believe that everyone can develop their potential to the maximum”.

When Victoria was linked with disability after the birth of her daughter María decades ago, she found little information, few resources, little technology. “Some time later, I got involved in AEDIN, and little by little, with the formation of excellent teams, the generosity of donors and the arrival of more and more children, we created a space that fills us with pride “, the woman told Infobae.

The establishment has a rehabilitation center and a therapeutic education center. “Yes, we have patients, but also students,” he said. More than 500 children come every day to AEDIN, where we are a group of 275 professionals who accompany them, help them in their development, because we all have great potential and our mission is that they live happily ”.

And after noting that they are “proud of every step” they take and convinced of the importance of multiplying knowledge, Campos Malbrán underlined: “This is also why we teach undergraduate and graduate courses and over 4,100 professionals have already graduated. It is exciting to witness the opening of so many centers offering therapy to patients with cerebral palsy and other neurological disorders. It is that these therapies are the key to a full life. So that everyone finds their maximum potential ”.

A story of going beyond and achieving goals

Mauricio was born in the 33rd week of gestation and weighed only 980 grams. His parents learned a few months later that he had cerebral palsy and that his life would always be accompanied by treatments and therapies.

Despite the daily difficulties, this young man is a very happy boy, according to his mother Graciela. “Mau is happy, funny and very intelligent. Although he cannot speak, he can express himself. Technology is your ally on many occasions “, said with pride the woman for whom having her son by her side is “a miracle”.

The young man is Venezuelan, he has lived in Buenos Aires for four years, with his parents and his younger brother, Emiliano. He is studying at UBA and his mother says Mau is going to Harvard. This is how he refers to AEDIN, the place which, in his own words, “changed their lives”.

“Since my son attended the AEDIN Therapeutic Education Center, he has become much more independent. Before, he could only say yes and no by touching his forehead or chest. Today, thanks to the augmented communication system, he can express everything and can much more use his own means, ”he underlined.

This is where he receives everything his parents dreamed of for him: stimulation, therapy, confinement. There Mau has fun with peers, finds love and can manage with much more autonomy than before. Maybe that’s why he smiles so much every time the truck picks him up from his house to go downtown every day.

Mauricio loves River, his girlfriend Sol, he has a lot of faith and he has recently started playing football. A football different from that seen on television when played at the Monumental. Mau teaches him to play in a motorized wheelchair, because that is his way of getting around.

He sweats when he watches a River game on TV and calls his grandmother via video chat from an electronic device. Corn what he likes most is being with people, being present, accompanying and being accompanied.

For Graciela, porteños are very warm with people with disabilities, they are special. He says that in the street they greet them, approach them and look at them with affection. Very different from your experience in other countries.

The importance of “saying hello”

The “Say Hello” campaign seeks to invite everyone to say hello and to recognize those of us who often look in the street without knowing what to do or how to act. It is the most natural and familiar expression in our society and a way to start talking.

The initiative is promoted by the AEDIN Foundation and in this regard its president declared: “We need to talk about cerebral palsy, know the challenges and capacities of people who have it. Lack of information can lead, for example, to the mistaken conception that it is a contagious disease or that if the child speaks badly it is because he does not understand. Speaking helps us integrate as a society ”.

Nothing could be simpler than to say “hello” to break down barriers and generate reconciliations. On the occasion of World Cerebral Palsy Day, artists, journalists, models and athletes relaunched the awareness campaign.

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