{"id":600,"date":"2016-05-12T12:12:38","date_gmt":"2016-05-12T12:12:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pacientesatm.com\/en\/?p=600"},"modified":"2016-09-23T10:26:49","modified_gmt":"2016-09-23T10:26:49","slug":"i-will-help-depression-disappear-from-lives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pacientesatm.com\/en\/?p=600","title":{"rendered":"\u00abSuffering this illness is like going to war. You can\u00b4t afford to fall into depression because you are fighting for other people\u00bb"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interview with Carlos Mateo-Sagasta, Volunteer of the Association of Patients with Neuropathic Pain. Carlos is affected with Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and capable of transmitting his strength, energy which sometimes, seems to not belong to this world.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"fotoMTD12-mayo-2016\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Carlos Mateo-Sagasta. Testimony, Volunteer at AEPA ATM. Affected by Multiple Sclerosis Progressive
\n<\/span><\/p>\n


\n1. Carlos, can you briefly explain to us how your life has been and which condition do you suffer from?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Currently, I am 60 years old. I have been an executive at Schweppes and after, at Coca Cola Spain. When I had been in Coca-Cola for 16 years, my strengths started decrease. I was in a football stadium closing a contract and I would fall to the floor. I went to work with a cane. Until one day, both of my legs stopped working. The doctor explained to me that my condition was cruel, slow and painful. That I suffered from Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and I suffered pain. I suffer the worst type of Sclerosis. I looked at his eyes and I left crying, and full of rage.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. How did you accept this diagnosis?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I accepted it with reluctance. I have always been hyperactive. With a very powerful strength and attitude. You see in first person how you turn into a piece of cloth and your body doesn\u2019t correspond to your soul. <\/span>
\nOnce, I went over that phase, I started looking for the best wheelchairs and motorbikes for invalids. It had to be practical and fast at the same time. I\u2019ve fallen several times in hills\u2026 but I\u2019 ve always gone through them. I\u2019 m not scared of anything. I just fear the battery ending.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Was this the first strong blow in your life?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve gone through a long path\u2026 My first strong event in life was a motorbike accident. I had with my best friend in the middle of a very dangerous street in Madrid in Paseo de la Castellana. An ambulance run us over.<\/strong> They put a big white sheet over me because they thought I had died. However, they left a finger uncovered from the sheet, and I tried to move my toe. A neighbor from the area saw it and he shouted \u201cHey! The kid isn\u2019t dead!\u201d.<\/strong>\u00a0 The accident was very extensive and I spent several months in the Hospital. I made a key chain with pieces of my fibula. I have and key hanging with my bone chips.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. What happened after the accident?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

As I was 18, my recovery was fine but I was never had my leg in good condition. Years later, the second important event to my life came. I fell in love with a person who was very sick.<\/strong> She had a heart condition. Her name was Adela G\u00f3mez Arreixeiras. She was a beautiful human being. We got married and spent our married life in the hospital. But I was happy with her. I loved her dearly. She didn\u2019t want to marry me.<\/strong> I had a very hard time. If you fall in love with a sick person\u2026 you fall in love and that\u2019s it. After four years, in the middle of our honeymoon, a good part of our marriage, God took her away.<\/strong> I had to overcome this by myself and my soul hurt\u2026 Her sister was also sick. I had married her with all the consequences and I helped as much as I could.<\/span><\/p>\n

5. How did you get on with your life?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

My life went on by praying\u2026\u00a0 because if you don\u2019t do this it\u2019s impossible to carry on with life. Nothing has a logical explanation that we can understand. I was very angry. However, life doesn\u2019t belong to us and we\u2019re here to learn.<\/strong> Later in life, I remarried\u2026 Years later\u2026 this sickness appeared in a very cruel and aggressive way. You stop being seductive when you have to go to the bathroom in an underpad every morning, because you can\u2019t get out of bed. My relationship ended with divorce a year ago. However, I look bad fondly to the second relationship as I have two amazing children.<\/strong> The eldest is already a doctor. And the second one is studying his first year in University. My life consists on my two children getting by. This thought has been my life. My life didn\u2019t exist. Only my children existed. This is the Key.<\/strong>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

6. What do you recommend to other patients?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I recommend them to never stop fighting. To not stay in bed. To go outside.\u00a0 That things take place outside. That they keep themselves informed. That the illness appears to steal your partner, your friends\u2026 but it isn\u2019t true. It\u2019s a chance to see who you\u2019re surrounded with. That, has no real value.<\/strong><\/span>
\nI go out every day, to do food shopping. They lift me up with a crane. They sit me in my chair and I go shopping. The other day I had a heart attack in the middle of the supermarket\u2026 It is normal, at the end of this illness. I placed myself in a corner, to avoid a hassle and I put my head down. I was alone next to the cans of peas. It wasn\u2019t a garden\u2026., but it was something green. <\/span>
\nI was happy to think that I was going with God\u2026 But no\u2026 It wasn\u2019t my time. I recovered bit by bit. The pain was brutal so with the chair\u2019s motor I found the way to go back home. From there I called my son, the one who\u2019s a Doctor, who shouted at me \u201cDad you\u2019re crazy lie down!\u201d And I thought \u201cHow can he think that I can lie down if I can\u2019t even move?\u201d Doctors live up to another reality.<\/strong> I just stayed sitting down. The ambulance came and they helped me recover. I didn\u2019t really like the idea\u2026 to be honest\u2026 They gave me some brutal impacts. But then, I thought of my youngest child and I said\u2026 Well, I guess God wants me to see him finish his career. My incomes are very useful for my youngest. So I\u2019m still fighting\u2026 I believe that life doesn\u2019t belong to us. My day to day is a tremendous fight.<\/strong> I\u2019m a block without movement. I\u2019m going to go to live to a nursing home now.<\/span><\/p>\n

7. Are you looking forward to it?<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

In reality, I\u2019m not. The nursing home is full of old and sad people. I see myself as being very young and with the desire to thing. I\u2019m going to alter all of them. But I\u2019m going to keep them going!!! I have a lot to teach. I feel useful intellectually.<\/strong> Besides, I\u2019ll\u00a0 sneak out every time I can.<\/span>
\nBy Marta del Rio with the collaboration of AEPA ATM\u00b4S Scientific Committee.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interview with Carlos Mateo-Sagasta, Volunteer of the Association of Patients with Neuropathic Pain. Carlos is affected with Progressive Multiple Sclerosis and capable of transmitting his strength, energy which sometimes, seems to not belong to this world.   Carlos Mateo-Sagasta. Testimony, <\/p>\n

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