I’m Crăciun Alina Diana, I’m 32 years old, I’m a physiotherapist, and in May 2015 I stepped into the Maria Beatrice center for the first time, as a hydro-kinesitherapist, that’s because the water was my second home, being a former performance swimmer. Before I got here, I was teaching kids to swim and doing post-traumatic aquatic recovery with adults.

In the first days I experienced a lot of moods generated by the fear of not being good enough. I was overwhelmed with emotions and for fear that I could not help, I went home crying. One day I decided to talk to Mr. Onac about the fact that I consider myself powerless and that I want to quit. Luckily for me, I missed it 😊)! As luck would have it, on the same day the connection I had with one of the children was so strong that I forgot what I had been through in the previous days and it made me feel that my place really was here. I can’t describe in words what happened then, but I am grateful to that little boy who is now grown and walking on his own two feet, because thanks to him, I found the strength to overcome all the turmoil I was facing.

For many years I have been doing physical therapy at the Maria Beatrice Center with children born prematurely or injured, sometimes with cerebral palsy, rare syndromes, autoimmune diseases, etc. There are children who have mild forms that we manage to bring to port in two to three months, and there are children for whom both we, the medical staff and their families make a joint effort for years to obtain clear, visible results.

I often get questions like, “How are you able to work there?” “Isn’t it hard?” “Have you no pity?” Do these children have a chance to recover?”… Questions that take my breath away for a few seconds, but to which my answers are clear: I can, because I chose to do this and I love what I do. Because just as no child is like the other, neither are the days the same and it all depends on how you want to look at things. I prefer to look through the eyes of the therapist Alina, enjoy the energy of the children, their innocent smiles and concentrate on what I have to do to help them.

Mercy?! Who has time for that? Empathy, yes! The connection between the child and the therapist is the most powerful and precious weapon of the therapist, which is why I sing a lot in therapy 😊)) even if I don’t have an artist’s voice, but as long as it calms the child and gives him a feeling of well-being in who responds positively to therapy, I can only be happy.

The last question is the hardest because no one can answer this with certainty, it also depends on the development and limitations of each individual child. I wish I had a magic wand to do miracles overnight, but I’m no magician, but every day I hold my baby I think this is the big day I’m going to make it. Months can pass, years have happened to me, until I see the mother’s cry of joy when the child took its first steps towards her.

There are also wonders in this world that are not man-made. I don’t always have a scientific explanation, just as I can’t explain to anyone the blessing I feel when that little baby ball comes out of my hands, laughing. That’s why I never get tired!

In short, this is me, Crăciun Alina Diana, physiotherapist, I like the work I have chosen and I am glad to be part of the Maria Beatrice team, together here we really do wonders.