Lina Álvarez, doctor and from Lugo, had her first child –Exiquito– at the age of 34. Everything smiled at her: she was married to a relevant architect, she was “fulfilled” in her profession and she wanted to be a mother. A medical negligence –alleged, she has not been able to get justice to agree with her– due to a wrong puncture in the fetus –amniocentesis– that she did not even request, caused the child to be born with 85% cerebral palsy. “They broke me with everything, I was left with nothing. And when I heard about fertilizations…”. She had a second son at 52 and a girl at 62 (she admits she misrepresented her age by ten years). “It wasn't an outburst,” she clarifies.
You became a mother, for the third time, at the age of 62. What do you think of the controversy over the García Obregón case?
I am surprised by the calls from the media because the protagonist is Ana García Obregón...
The case has put the focus on late maternities, like hers.
But I want to put the focus on my son's paralysis because the two things go very closely together. And that topic doesn't interest anyone.
Our readers are interested. It refers to Exiquito, born 33 years ago...
Her head was punctured in the third month of pregnancy. He was born with 85% cerebral palsy. I have it at home for 33 years. Nobody helped me, nobody recognized my negligence. His father got sick and I had to face this paralysis alone, also at work -I am a doctor-, with the opposition of the entire medical class.
Why those problems?
By my demand. That was negligence. And the litigation has not ended... A tremendous story. The gynecologists pricked me – it was my first child and I did not have any risk factors – when I had not even requested the test, what happens is that my husband, who is an architect, had insurance from the Brotherhood of architects, which paid all tests without limit. And then, to collect it, they give me a test, which was starting, the amniocentesis. They pricked the child's head. I heard rumors of the bug. They thought she was going to have an abortion but they let the child be born with the paralysis.
It must be hard not being able to prove that alleged negligence.
With time I was discovering the whole truth, with the confession even of one of the gynecologists, but the cowardice of the human being reaches unsuspected limits. Total, I had to face the disease for 17 years because the father also got sick and we separated, I couldn't count on him at all. A horrible story. I fought like a lioness and since I lost the trials they took 68,000 euros out of my salary. Last month I paid the last 7,000 euros. It's something I can't forgive. What I experienced is inhuman. My purpose in life is to win this trial because I cannot forgive the damage that was done to my son. I was crying for 17 years until I found out about the fertilizations...
What public aid did you receive?
The one that corresponds to any child with a disability when he turns 18 years old. Six hundred euros per month. Shit, because before we were 18 we spent a fortune on doctors to get it going until we saw that it was impossible. I have always had him at home because he is a king and he deserves to live like a king.
Was becoming a mother again a kind of "revenge" or rebellion?
It wasn't for that. The hardness of the pain that I felt… For 17 years I did not find meaning in my life. She was alone with a sick child who was not going to get better. It was not what I was looking for in life. They broke me with everything: 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 fertilization, I only saw one way out. It wasn't an outburst, it was giving meaning to my life and, be careful, also to my son's. Today she is happy with his brothers. And me with my children, with all three together. Now we are a nucleus of love and no one can hurt us. My family is complete.
How were those 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 that I would get pregnant with my second child at the first time or with the second at 62 years of age. But you are looking to open paths in life, how you can and how 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 meant more expenses, more mouths. How great was her pain?
I am so happy, so satisfied and so proud of the life I have managed to achieve that I am no longer afraid of life, except for the future of my sick son.
How are the two children?
The one in the middle is 17 years old and in his teens. And the girl is the prettiest I've ever seen: blonde, blue-eyed, nice, happy, a princess. She is six and a half years old.
Does it bother you that society can now criticize you for being a late mother?
It doesn't bother me anymore, I laugh. How can they be so ignorant to criticize me for this? The Administration that never helped me for my sick child now worry about the future of my little girl. I can't understand it, it's contradictory. The future of my girl, let's see, why are you worried? They left me alone for 17 years, alone, with an impossible problem, which I had no choice but to face because it was my son's life and I had no alternative.
What life does Exiquito lead?
Now he hasn't gone out for a while because he went out to dinner at his father's house and when he went out alone, they stole his cell phone and wallet and that scared him. She really likes girls and stuff. He is incapable of maintaining a relationship, I know, he limps, he can't speak, all his saliva falls out, he can't chew. He was a gorgeous boy...
