Once you are born, Pedrito they had to take him to the ICU, where he spent the first four months of his life. “They did all kinds of tests and they saw that little things came out on both the neuronal, cardiac, motor level, the food instead of going to the stomach went to the lungs … If I keep going, I will not finish. , “explains his father., John Paul Amantini. to him already Guillermina Marquina, his wife, told them that the child has Kis-Siris, a rare disease suffered by less than 60 people throughout Spain. Juan Pablo, an Argentine defender who at 37 was a globetrotter in Catalan ‘amateur’ football, wanted to set up a charity match to raise funds for a dog therapist for Pedro. What he did not imagine was the dimension that the initiative would take in support of this four-year-old fighter.
“I had it in mind for a long time, but with the covid it could not be carried out. Both Guillermina and I were excited, but we did not expect the impact it had.” According to his account, there are already more than a hundred soccer players who have offered to play in this match. In addition to San Cristobal, Juan Pablo’s current team, other clubs offered him their field for the match. “Sant Feliu, Cerdanyola, Montañesa, Manlleu, Vilafranca, Pomar, Parets, Tona… The list is very long and more and more entities are being offered, which is nice. Throughout my career, I have been able to meet many people and now I feel that I have personally left a mark that now supports me. ”
An event that does not stop growing
Since starting to play for Badalona B, this old-school Argentine central defender has gone through many Third Division teams, such as Gavà, Blanes, Europa, Montañesa, Terrassa, Cerdanyola, Llagostera, Vilafranca and Castelldefels. In the latter he met Javier Sanchez, inseparable friend since then who helps a project that does not stop growing. “I received a lot of messages from former teammates or competitors, but also from players I do not know from the Second and First Division,” he said. “We are very grateful for what is being created and moved. It is going to be a very special day, especially very nice for Pedro and to improve his quality.”
The event, scheduled for early June, is not stopping growth: they have received proposals to run futsal and paddle tennis tournaments as well, first and second division players have promised their dedicated t-shirts to take them out loot, clothing brands have offered to manufacture t-shirts for free with the slogan #ChampionsforPedrito to sell it and NGOs like the Ricky Rubio Foundation and multinational companies have made themselves available to you.
“It’s amazing the people, not just family and friends, who have empathy and want to help us, I’m excited all day,” Guillermina confesses. Amantini works as a delivery man for the company Joan Soler, President of Vilafranca and Member of the Board of the Barça, which offered him the cooperation of both teams. While Juan Pablo got up at four o’clock every morning to hand out the truck, she had to stop working to take care of Pedrito.
“He needs a man who is always there for him. To eat, to take him to doctors, therapies. He was long fed through a nasogastric tube and it was only when he was almost four years old that he started. walk.In November he started having epileptic seizures, Thank God they went off with the medication.At night he had apnea and I got used to not sleeping deep.I sleep with his breathing and at the slightest I wake up because I know I have to move him so that he does not stop, ”he says Ma.
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make the syndrome visible
The main action of the charity game was to get Pedrito an Australian Cobberdog, a highly sensitive therapy dog, to move him in episodes of nocturnal crises and allow his parents to rest. “Besides getting him a dog therapist, we bring some visibility to the multisystem syndrome he suffers from.” Now, given the size of the initiative, they have decided to turn the #ChampionsforPedrito event into a homonymous association with the goal of helping other families in the same situation.
Reference-www.elperiodico.com