A few days after her birth, she exhibited uncommon symptoms: she clenched her fists, bowed her head, and then her body lost stiffness. These symptoms repeated several times a day, so we took her to a doctor. A general physician then sent us to a neurologist, and, from there, we overtook a long journey, where professionals from different cities diagnosed her illness as epileptic seizure spasms.

As parents, we lived these days in a state of shock, unable to digest a reality that we did not understand and that overwhelmed us.

Etiology is unimportant now. Electroencephalograms and multiple tests concluded that Tita suffered from the West syndrome, a serious and rare brain disorder that generates short, axial muscle contractions; these produce psychomotor retardation with pervasive development disorder.

Several neurologists agreed this condition later degenerated into the so-called Lennox Gastout syndrome; it meant childhood epileptic encephalopathy with mental damage and severe therapeutic resistance. Tita would need rigorous full time attention and much medication for the rest of her life.