“The first thing he told me was ‘I screwed up'”

Matías Bottoni He is 17 years old, is a federated swimmer and had arrived with his teammates from Rosario Club to Roca Park, in Buenos Aires, to compete in the National Swimming Championship. But what should be an amateur sport party ended in tragedy: during heat entry, Matías crashed with another swimmer, suffered a fracture in the sixth cervical vertebra and was paralyzed.

Monday was operated urgently at the Italian hospital and Today faces a long recovery path. His dad, Luciano, tells in the first person everything they are suffering in these critical hours and how the health status of the young Rosario follows.

“When I arrived here to Buenos Aires, Matías told me; ‘Papi almost drowning’, Because it was unable to move below the water. With luck they could get him, “Luciano begins to tell, still beaten by the situation that they have to go through. “He was aware at all times. The coup did not shock it, but fractured the vertebra and left it paralyzed. “

The unfortunate episode occurred on Saturday afternoon, after 5 pm. Since then, the Bottoni face a true medical, bureaucratic and emotional odyssey. And Matías’ catharsis with Clarion It begins focusing on administrative obstacles: although the young man has social work, more than 24 hours passed without effective coverage, when every moment makes the difference.

“On Saturday from five in the afternoon that was the accident until Monday, Matías did not have social work coverage. While the Italian hospital had an agreement and the social work was in force there was no way to contact them, which seemed crazy. The authorities would have to rever an emergency contact phone for this type of situations outside Santa Fe. They cannot only attend from Monday to Friday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., it is not so. Things happen when they have to happen, not when they decide what to happen, “Luciano complains on his fourth day of martyrdom and little dream.

Luciano and Valeria, Matías’ parents, are dentists and are affiliated with Ospac, Social work of the art staff of curewhich includes other health workers. However, they discovered that when one is more than 100 kilometers from Rosario, contact with the social work is managed only through an application, which derives attention to an external company. “It turns out that there is an article in the contract that says they do not cover sporting events, and there we had the first call for attention. It is not motoring, or paratrooper, this was an amateur swimming tournament.”

For this reason, Matías was transferred at first from Roca Park to the Santojanni Hospital, in Mataderos, where she was hospitalized in a critical condition. “When I arrived at the hospital, he was in therapy and the first thing he told me was ‘I screwed up … I am paralyzed, I’m going to kill.’. Imagine what it was for me to listen to that, “says Luciano.

At that time, Luciano moved heaven and earth to get a transfer that allowed Matías to serve in a center with greater medical complexity. “I began to mobilize to get a transfer to Fleming or Italian, but at night it is complicated. Apart from Fleming they had no agreement with OSPAC. In the Italian hospital they told me yes, that’s why the transfer to Italianbut until Monday they could not communicate, “Luciano says.

In parallel, his condition got worse. “That night in Santojanni therapy almost dies twice due to medullary commitment, the injury is very close to vital centers. His state was critical on Saturday night. The case was complex. In fact, in Fleming they told me that they had not seen such a serious column injury for many years. The initial budget was 60 million pesos, only for the first operation that Matías had and some therapy days. Did not include the transfer. “

Luciano did everything possible to get an urgent transfer, but he ran into obstacles in each attempt. The Same did not want to mobilize Matías because he was already in the Santojanni and could not derive it to a private center. The picture was delicate: The transfer represented a real risk for his life. Not even the private companies they contacted wanted to take responsibility. The solution arrived only when a Italian doctor offered them a specialized transfer, with a team prepared to attend medullary injuries.

“It was decided to do it, but it was missing a lot of time. Matías took more than 24 hours to be operated. The marrow was compressed and the damage was greater”, Explains Luciano. And he added:“Only for time neuronal connections are dying due to the pressure of the displaced fracture. It would have been better for us to operate within 24 hours. As dad I did everything that was within my reach, but I could not achieve it. ”

Only on Monday the intervention was. “The operation lasted four hours, the sixth vertebra was replaced and his neck stabilized. That was for him to have a stable neck, not for anything else. Now a very long path comes. He is an extremely intelligent boy, I believe that Matías’s illusion was for the operation to repair everything and still still pestle from the chest down. They do not give us high expectations regarding that“, confesses the dad, who is also a swimmer. For her part, the social work issued a statement in which she informed that Matías was covered one hundred percent.

Currently, Matías is awake without a respirator, and began to assimilate what is happening to him. “He now re -enters reality. The arms are moving them. Obviously, the movements are not like a normal person. The damage is. Doctors trust that the motor part of the arms recovers. But today he was with his hand leaning on his belly and tells me: ‘Do you see your hand supported there? I don’t feel it. ‘ Says; ‘What’s happening?’. And I said: ‘You know what happens. This is long, missing ‘. Now my lady said: “I want to move my legs but I can’t “. He is returning to reality, to have the impact. I have nothing to complain here in the Italian, we are contained, “describes Luciano.

Matías’ operation was very delicate. The doctors had to address it on the front of the neck, at the height of Adam’s nut, because there was no other way to access the affected area. “There he has the surgical approach, at that height is his injury. You still can’t hold your neck only. If it does not stabilize well, it breaks again. Then the neurosurgeons and traumatologists are seeing if they need to intervene from behind to place a bar that ensures more vertebrae, ”says his dad. The panorama is still uncertain, but each medical decision is key for Matías to keep mobility and take some step, although small, forward.

The Bottoni family rented a temporary department in front of the Italian hospital To accompany Matías, since the recovery will be long. “They tell me about no less than a year in Buenos Aires. This comes for long, it does not end here, there may be other operations,” says Luciano. His other son Juani, 11, was in Rosario in the care of his grandparents. Even mothers of the school are giving him a hand so that Juani continues with his activities. “I told him that if I could the weekend I was going to go. I have to go back to look for things, we came with it,” he explains.

Faced with this, Luciano and Valeria promoted A solidarity campaign to face the very high costs They will come. “The hospital administrator told me that the road is long, the expenses are huge, and that she is concerned about the solvency of the social work, but in addition to the social work taking charge, there are a lot of expenses ahead so that it can be rehabilitated in the best place, which they say is the Fleming,” says Luciano.

Matías’s case moved the local and international swimming community. From Los Angeles to Australia, thousands of people sent messages of support and collaborations. “This turned the world. Today a friend of the swimming environment too, I am a swimmer like Mati, told me that a swimming magazine in the United States published the case. They also spoke to me about treatments in Cuba,” he says.

In the midst of all the pain, Luciano explains that everything collected will be for the well -being of his son: “Absolutely everything will be for him, I want him to have the best chances. We do not want to move on to a luxury life with this, I prefer to live on the street and that my son recovers 100%“Luciano closes.

• Titular: luciano martín boottoni
• Days: 25,524.775
• CBU: 0720101788000035926254

• Holder: Valeria Alejandra Grimaux
• Days: 26.809.267
• CBU: 0720101788000035926018