The three A’s start their journey in life prematurely, at 30 weeks, by caesarean section. The little boy, weighing 1,450 grams, was born last, as if he knew what was waiting for him and was still in his belly. The middle one was 1,200 grams, and the first born a 900 gram lump (the reason for the caesarean section) gave lesson after lesson to the medical staff and showed no sign of “growth restriction”, the first one breathed without help and recovered amazingly.

With an enormous will, this 900-gram human cub managed at 2 years and a bit to achieve independent walking, even though she was diagnosed with intraventricular hemorrhage and later left hemiparesis.

The little boy seemed to have successfully overcome all the complications, there were hopes that everything would be fine for him as well. Or, at least, that’s how we parents set our souls, because you can’t integrate a different reality for your child.

At about 10 months, I noticed some suspicious “tremblings” in the little boy. He was crying way too much, and in the face of those tears, what kept me afloat was the fact that all the torment and suffering would have a happy ending. Because we’re in a story, right? It had to be like that. He had no choice.

Meanwhile, the “startles” were filling up. We were told that they were not relevant, but the little boy was one year old, his head was not holding it properly, he could only roll over. So we did an EEG which confirmed the presence of epilepsy, the diagnosis being West Syndrome, spastic cerebral palsy…

We realized that we had to do even more, that’s how we found out from the Maria Beatrice Center in Alba Iulia, and here, even after the first session, improvements were noticed: from the position of the head, of the body, to the fact that began to roll successively. The boy is making progress on the motor side, but also on the cognitive side (we are doing therapy with both children now at the center).

I would add what I noticed at the Maria Beatrice Center: a handful of people who look at these children through the eyes of their parents as absolutely normal children, and I especially thank the therapists Sorin Neamțu, Andrei Copîndean, Bianca Ignat, Andreea Cistelecan, Ionut Barb, Alina Petaca, Robert Uleșan, Anamaria Tiuc, Dr. Diana Stoia-Dudaș. Yes, I am the mother of an ATYPICAL/SPECIAL child or whatever other name there is, but in my eyes, he is simply a CHILD. And so it is for those here. And that’s how it should be for everyone. The therapists speak to them naturally, help them, support them, guide them, give them tools to succeed and reasons to move on. And they do it because that’s how they are as people: kind and gentle. Because they transformed empathy into helping hands and because, in turn, they believe in what two people, the Iulia and Sebastian Onac family, managed to create: a place of hope.

As for us, we all moved for a while from Bucharest to Alba Iulia, for all the good that happens to us here!

During all this time when I looked into my child’s eyes to understand WHY he has to go through all this and tried to get a divine answer, I encountered the reply, it does not belong to me, I just borrow it, which says so : GOD BLINKS!

And when he does, such things (more) happen.