Guilherme Guerra Brandão
My name is Márcio Brandão and I'm married to Ana. We have two children: Pedro, born on the 6th of August 1986, and Guilherme, born on the 5th of April 1989. We are from Brazil, but since 1997 we are living in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Guilherme's development was being closely followed since his birth by different doctors with different backgrounds, but they didn't provide us with a clear explanation of the subtleties of his development, such as:
- severe constipation. We discovered that the main cause of his constipation was the milk. After several months of experiments, we noticed that cereal milk was a good substitute for his first years;
- constant ear infections. His doctor found out the proper homoepathic medicine to deal with these infections, and since then we are able to keep this under control;
- an undescended testicle. A successful surgery was done when Guilherme had about six years old;
- growth below the average;
- language difficulties. This seem to be the most difficult area for him. A speech therapist was helping Guilherme when we were living in Brazil, in such a way that he is able to understand his native language (Portuguese) reasonably well, but it is not easy for other people understand 100% of what he is saying.
In 1997 we moved to Edinburgh and only in 1998, with a joint effort of the Scottish Educational and Health Systems, Guilherme was diagnosed with RTS. This diagnostic explained his major difficulty he has been having with the English and Portuguese languages and his development as a whole.
Guilherme is a very happy boy, and he conquers everyone around him with his beautiful smile. He is doing very well at school, and he is trying really hard to follow what his peers are doing, instead of his language difficulties. The school is providing a good support to him, and currently he is attending the Primary 5 with children of the same age group of him.
He loves his friends, and everywhere he goes there is a kid - usually a girl - that likes to look after him. He loves to ride his bicycle, to watch movies and cartoons, and to dance, from axé (brazilian) to irish music. Recently we gave him a photographic machine, and he is taking beautiful shots like this one he took at the Highlands:
On November 1998 we attended the Annual Get Together of the British RTS Support Group, held at the Westhoughton Community Centre, near Bolton (U.K.). It was a well organised meeting, and Dr. Hennekan gave an excellent talk about his current research concerning the eye problems found in people with RTS. We had also the opportunity to exchange information with other parents and also to have a consultation with Dr. Hennekan.
To check our Scottish Photo Album, click here
Contact: brandao@dai.ed.ac.uk