If there were prizes for the biggest smile Brandon Vieira-Torrecilla, 18, would be in the running every time.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Brandon is a young man who touches the heart of everyone he meets. So much so the nurses who care for him are going to help the family push a wheelchair in a Brandon to Brandon walk from Brandon Park to Port Kembla Hospital.
A week after Brandon was born he had a brain hemorrhage that hindered his development and caused him to have many seizures.
“He had quite severe epilepsy when he was younger and was having between 40 and 50 seizures within an hour,” father Cipriano Vieira-Torrecilla said.
Brandon has Global Development Delay, Hypotonia, Severe Intellectual Disability, Secondary Epilepsy, Simpson Golabi Behmel Syndrome and Hydrocephalus. The multiple medication he was taking left him in an almost vegetative state until the family tried a Ketogenic diet which dramatically reduced the number of seizures.
He can’t talk but he loved to walk and run and jump on a trampoline. But that progressively became more difficult in his mid teens. Then a few weeks after his 18th birthday he was unable to walk and has been in hospital since last July.
Brandon would like to go home. A Brandon to Brandon Walk in April will help that happen. While NDIS is looking at installing a lift those wheels are turning slowly.
His family have other priorities such as more room to accommodate his equipment and access the backyard. They are not after handouts but they will gratefully welcome any in-kind support such as materials to help them extend the back of their house.
Building supplies and equipment are a big help and support has already come from businesses such as Coastal Windows and Doors and Illawarra’s Roofing Solutions. Support has also come from people in the community such as David Drain and Mary Mezza Mouawad.
Mr Vieira-Torrecilla and his wife Brigitte and son Marley just want to give Brandon a comfortable life at home.
Mrs Vieira-Torrecilla said the Brandon to Brandon Walk was also a way for them to raise awareness about the wonderful job Wollongong and Port Kembla Hospital have done.
“We are going to take turns in the wheelchair. Every few kilometres one of us will be sitting in the wheelchair and the other one will be pushing. Some of the nurses are helping us. The nursing staff have been fabulous. I can’t thank them enough,” she said.
Mr Vieira-Torrecilla said “our son has a neurological condition due to his epilepsy. And he has lost control of his right side”.
Read more:
Greg Ellis
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
Almost four decades in electronic, print and digital media. A writer, presenter, emcee, photographer and videographer with degrees in business management, marketing and human resources and tertiary qualifications in photography.
