Lina Ãlvarez, doctor and from Lugo, had her first child – Exiquito – at the age of 34. Everything was smiling at her: married to an important architect, “accomplished” in her profession and eager to be a mother. A medical negligence – supposed, he has not managed to get the justice to give him the right – due to a wrong puncture on the fetus – amniocentesis – which he did not even request caused the child to be born with cerebral palsy of a 85% “They broke everything from me, I was left with nothing. And when I heard about fertilizations…”. She had a second child at 52 and a daughter at 62 (she admits she falsified her age and took ten years off). “It wasn’t a rampage”, he clarifies.
You became a mother, for the third time, at the age of 62. What do you think of the controversy over the GarcÃa Obregón case?
I am surprised by the calls from the media because the protagonist is Ana GarcÃa Obregón…
The case has put the focus on late mothers, like hers.
But I want to focus on my son’s paralysis, because both things go together. And this topic is of no interest to anyone.
Our readers are interested. It refers to Exiquito, born 33 years ago…
They punctured her caparró in the third month of pregnancy. He was born with 85% cerebral palsy. I have had it at home for 33 years. No one helped me, no one acknowledged my negligence. His father fell ill and I had to face this paralysis all by myself, also at work – I’m a doctor -, with the opposition of the entire medical class.
Why these problems?
For my demand. That was negligence. And the litigations are not over… A tremendous story. The gynecologists pricked me – it was my first child and I had no risk factors – when I hadn’t even asked for the test, the fact is that my husband, who is an architect, had the insurance of the Brotherhood of architects, which paid for all tests without limit. And then, to collect it, they do a new test, the amniocentesis. They pricked the boy’s head. I heard rumors of the bug. They thought she would miscarry, but they let the child be born with the paralysis.
It must be hard not being able to prove this alleged negligence.
Over time I discovered the whole truth, even with the confession of one of the gynecologists, but the cowardice of the human being reaches unsuspected limits. All in all, I had to face the disease for 17 years because my father also got sick and we separated, I couldn’t count on him for anything. A horrible story. I fought like a lioness and because I lost the judgments they took 68,000 euros from my salary. Last month I paid the last 7,000 euros. It’s something I can’t forgive. It is inhuman, what I experienced. My purpose in life is to win this trial because the harm they did to my son I cannot forgive. Seventeen years of crying until I found out about fertilizations…
What public aid did you receive?
Which applies to any child with a disability when they turn 18. Six hundred euros per month. Shit, because before we were 18 we spent a fortune on doctors to get him going until we saw it was impossible. I have always had him at home because he is a king and deserves to live like a king.
Was becoming a mother a kind of “revenge” or rebellion?
It wasn’t because of that. The hardness of the pain I felt… For seventeen years I did not find meaning in my life. She was alone with a sick child who would not get better. It wasn’t what I was looking for in life. They broke everything for me: my career, my profession, my family life. My life as a couple, I was left without everything. without anything And I was looking for an incentive for my life. When I heard about fertilizations I could only see one way out. It wasn’t a prank, it gave meaning to my life and, alertly, to my son’s as well. Today he is happy with his brothers. And me with my children, with the three of them together. Now we are a core of love and no one can hurt us. My family is complete.
How were these pregnancies?
It was easy, I got pregnant the first time. I didn’t know who to thank for this new life that was falling from the sky. It was not logical for me to get pregnant with my second child at the age of 62 or my second child. But you are looking to make your own way in life, as you can and as they let you. And in the end you get these miracles that you don’t know how but they come to you.
Having more children, also more expenses, more mouths… Was the pain so great?
I am so happy, so satisfied and so proud of the life I have achieved that I am no longer afraid of life, except for the future of my sick son.
What are these two children like?
The medium is 17 years old and in full adolescence. And the girl is the most beautiful I have ever seen in my life: blonde, blue-eyed, cute, cheerful, a princess. He is 6 and a half years old.
Does it bother you that society can criticize you for being a late mother?
It doesn’t bother me anymore; I laugh. How can they be so ignorant as to criticize me for this? The administration, which never helped me for my sick child, is now worried about my little girl’s future. I can’t understand it, it’s contradictory. My little girl’s future, let’s see, why are they worried? They left me alone for seventeen years, alone, with an impossible problem, which I had no choice but to face because it was my son’s life.
What life does the Exiquito lead?
He hasn’t gone out for a season now because he was going to dinner at his father’s house and when he went out alone, his cell phone and wallet were stolen and that scared him. He likes girls a lot. He’s unable to maintain a relationship, I know, he’s limping, he can’t speak, he’s drooling, he can’t chew. He was a very handsome boy…
