"You can't accept it, but you learn to live with it…" - Matei's story

 "You can't accept it, but you learn to live with it…"

"My name is Matei, I'm 10 years old, almost 11, and I'm very kind. I'm strong and brave. I owe this mostly to my family — they fought so hard for me and always prayed for me. I always think about how I want to help others so they don't have to suffer like I do. That's why I want to become a musician," says Matei, whom we met at last year's camp.

Matei has two illnesses: Guillain-Barré syndrome and gluten intolerance.

Guillain-Barré syndrome means his own immune system attacks his nerve pathways. Because treatment was delayed, his motor nerves were damaged — leaving him in a wheelchair since early childhood, unable to move his left leg.

"At the beginning of summer, he got an orthosis on his leg to prevent his muscles from contracting. And he stood up. He felt he could stand, took one step, then two — and kept pushing further. He learned to walk with it so well that he spent the entire day on his feet at camp. It's incredible, because he was paralyzed at just one year and two months old," shares his mother, Tünde.

When his parents first learned of his diagnosis, they refused to believe it and took him to countless doctors, hoping for a recovery.

"How can a healthy child just stop walking… You can't accept it, but you learn to live with it. Máté has such incredible willpower — he's so special that he's taught us so much. He gives us strength," says Tünde.

Last year, Matei and his family attended a Yuppi camp for the first time — where he climbed trees, did archery, and went horse riding.