Monsoons are a permanent surprise. Uneven, everyone awaits their arrival, always unpredictable. They are beneficial because they irrigate the land. They can also be very harmful. They wipe out everything. And they change your life. That’s what happened to Paloma Pastor. A terrible accident transformed his son’s life and that of his whole family.
This month, at Deep Talks, one of BBVA’s podcast programs, we spoke with Paloma Pastor, president of the Sin Daño Foundation, which works to recognize the rights of children affected by brain injury.
It is estimated that in Spain it affects 191 children per 100,000. Many of these children need their lives saved first, and then they need help with their rehabilitation because “since brain injury occurs, it causes an injury to a child born without these neurological problems”. And when this happens “it is important to give rehabilitation because they have a therapeutic window in which they have the opportunity to improve.
And that’s their struggle. A struggle that began for his son and now has transferred to a whole population group that needs all available support.. A mother courage (she has explained her struggle in a book whose sale she hopes will help launch a pilot research with stem cells), which helped to recognize the right of her child and that of all other children with acquired brain injury.
Having a child and taking care of themis an incredible responsibility. Nelson Mandela said, “Nothing says more about the soul of a society than the way it treats its children.” Thanks to people like Paloma, the society we live in is transformed and a little more just. There is still a long way to go.
But at least, it seems that the monsoon is leaving.
