Click here to read Elsa’s story in Spanish
Once upon a time there was a girl with a brain … a brain like everyone else’s. No detail was lacking; it was large, pink, twisted and fluffy. It was as smart as the best scientists and as strong as the bravest warriors.
In that brain lived millions of inventive ideas, lots of incredible drawings, hundreds of lovely animals, all the wild nature you can imagine and, above all, a great ability to understand others.
In people’s brains there are roads that cross from one side to another, they are very important because they carry all the information we collect from the world, all we need in order to live happily. In that girl’s brain there were all those perfect roads and much more… there were high snowy mountains, delicate flowers, giant trees, unicorns that jumped free and streams where fresh water ran and millions of little goldfish lived. It was spectacular!
What happened sometimes is that all this information took a few seconds until it managed to swim across those streams; swimming takes time, you know… and in that lovely place with so many things to see, it takes even longer.
This made the girl feel something strange sometimes; she had a feeling as if she were clueless, as if she could not be attentive to everything … thankfully she could soon understand what was happening.
Those who loved her best also realized all this and took her to the best doctor in the world. He would have the solution!
And so it was, the doctor scratched his chin and said … I already have it! She has epilepsy, it happens to some children, don’t be alarmed.
The doctor prescribed medicine, which in truth was vile tasting, and sometimes he took blood samples to make sure the medicine was working as it should. But he also did wonderful things!
He was able to build bridges so that the information could cross at lightning speed!
The doctor said something her family already knew since they first saw her appear as a baby … this girl is strong and brave. She will be able to do everything she wants. It’s just necessary to understand and take care of oneself like the rest of the world. You must know your brain, accept it and want it as it is, because it is unique and individual.
Now she has started primary school, her mind is filled with a lot of new knowledge and she needs new medicine to help her build even stronger bridges. Sometimes she feels bad, her appetite is poor and her tummy hurts, her hands shake and she feels dizzy, but it soon passes. She understands and knows that, with those who love her most, she can talk about all this, cry or laugh when necessary. Everything has a solution, you just have to imagine it.
I thought all I could do was give the medicine and be frightened in my loneliness … maybe try to stay ahead. But no … there can be much more, as important as the medicine is to maintain things well, I can show you how things can be normalized, how you can be understood and loved as you are. We are mothers, we all know that we can also be cooks, teachers, taxi drivers and even writers if we think it’s necessary. Our fears are ours, not yours, this story comes out of the effort not to transfer it, but to transform the disease into magic, colors, love.
– Elsa Muñoz