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Maria
David
Cosmin
Katia
Ilie
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Petre's Story
 Petre is one of a family of seven, who live in a village about an hour’s drive from Brasov. He and all his family are deaf and dumb. They communicate amongst themselves with their own sign-language, and they live with a monthly income of about £50. Life for the family was hard enough, but then Petre became ill. The Paediatric Hospital diagnosed him as having terminal liver cancer and lung metastases. They decided there was nothing more they could do for him so he was referred to Casa Sperantei and has been in their care since January.Petre is being looked after by the Paediatric in patient unit who do a marvellous job. They care for him 24 hours a day throughout the week, but usually, every Friday evening Petre’s mother takes him home and tries to look after him for the weekend. One Friday night during last winter, events took a turn for the worse for this family.
The Social Work Department takes up the story...
"As Petre was being collected, the Hospice received a phone call telling us that the family home was on fire, and therefore he had no place to go. The family had no idea what to do or where to turn. The Social Workers and Nurses had a meeting and we had decided that one of us would have to take him home. However, Petre so wanted to go to his own home because he was missing his brothers and sisters and his parents so much, that we reluctantly decided to let him go with his family. We took him to a house that was blackened by the fire and had only one room which was still covered by part of the remaining roof. All 7 members of the family gathered together there to live out the weekend. The following week, Petre could return to in the in-patient unit, where he felt safe and protected once more.
After this incident, Petre felt that his family was not the same. They began to reject him because he was sick. They didn’t know what to do for him and he was a “burden” for them. His mother did not want him home for the weekends, and she made excuses not to come to visit by telling us she has no money to travel to Brasov. We do not judge Petre’s family for the way they feel – it is hard for them to understand and to accept Petre’s condition, and they don’t know how to react. They have difficulties even without Petre. So we worked with the family as well. We helped them out with some food and we asked for help from the local village. We talked to them, explaining things properly so they could begin to understand. We continue to encourage them to spend more and more time with him. They are beginning to listen and gradually things are improving. In the mean-time we continue to look after Petre. He loves chocolate and knows that we will give him one each day if he will give us a smile. He does this easily because he knows we love him very much and he feels protected in our care. Even though we cannot replace his mother who he misses very much, he smiles and is thankful and pleased that for a time we are his second family. We will continue to provide the comfort and care he needs and will take Petre to visit his family whenever he wants. We will continue to work for both him and his family; we will continue to give them hope."
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