December 21 marked the start of a new chapter in the life of a 20-year-old Portuguese youth suffering from tetraplegia. Fábio Pinto received a much-needed automatic wheelchair from Monchique-based charity Associação Espiral de Vontades.
Fábio Pinto was 17 years old when an accident on a beach in Lagos rendered him a tetraplegic. Since then he had been receiving treatment at the physiotherapy ward of Lagos Hospital, part of the Centro Hospitalar do Barlavento Algarvio (CHBA).
Aware of the difficulties the youngster faced as far as mobility was concerned, nurses Daniela Rebelo and Luísa Martins from the CHBA started a campaign to raise funds to buy the automatic wheelchair for Fábio.
Nurse Luísa Martins, who is also President of Espiral de Vontades, said: “It was all worth it just to see Fábio’s beautiful smile.”
