Gabriel Esdras is one year old and was born with a skull that is different from that of other children.
Turricephaly, the doctors call it. A malformation that changed the shape of his head, as well as causing dysmorphisms in his hands and feet. There is also developmental delay, and a geneticist is now investigating whether a chromosomal abnormality lies behind all this.
His mother, Rita de Cássia, was 30 years old when she found out at 22 weeks of pregnancy. She went for a routine exam, just to find out the baby’s sex. She left with news that changed her entire life.
The family lives in Bayeux, in the metropolitan area of João Pessoa, Brazil. Rita left her job to care for Gabriel every day, every hour. And there were months when the money wasn’t even enough to buy milk.
One day, without a plan and without expecting anything, they recorded a video of the boy’s routine. It had been more than a year since they had posted anything on their social media.
That video reached more than 100 thousand people.
From then on, everything changed. Messages, food, financial help, and clothes for the children began to arrive. Other mothers arrived too, with stories similar to Rita’s, willing to share what they had learned.
Gabriel continues with his quiet routine, surrounded by his siblings and the routines of home. But he is no longer alone. Thousands of strangers decided, without knowing him, that his story was also, in part, theirs.
