One morning, my son Mateo woke me up, I stared to hear noises coming from outside the bedroom window, he was playing and pretending to be a soldier, he was up and down doing army drills, I walked to the bedroom window and I saw him climbing trees, jumping from the trees, running like if he needed to take cover, well you name it, he was all over the yard. Those drills were almost every morning before his home school studies, until one day, at age 9 he started to trip a lot and fall. I kept telling him, hey, watch where you're going! Or watch your step! And he was not understanding why I was saying those expressions. I noticed it on his face, but, as a father, I kept saying those things without know what was really happening. Until one day, he couldn't lift his foot to get in the car and I saw him try many times till I helped him, and I started to realize that something was wrong and did know what it was. I can't imagine what was going through his mind, but mine was spinning like crazy, not knowing exactly why my son was having difficulty to just bring his foot up and get in the car. He was a warrior, I saw him every morning jumping, running, falling like a normal kid being free in his world of fantasy, I couldn't imagine what he was pretending to be, but he loved the army attire, got it from his uncle, his uncle served his country Mexico for many years and Mateo looked up to him very much. We decided to take him to the doctor, well, we started with the wrong doctor, but we didn't know, and took him to a different doctor, no luck, after taking him to so many doctors we didn't really know what else to do or think, for the first year our son Mateo was just being a guinea pig because no one could tell us a straight diagnosis of what was wrong with our son. Many of them played the God game, they told us horrible things, they even told us to say goodbye to him soon. Not in those words, but that is what I needed to hear to start doing something Even though we didn't really know what was wrong with him, he joined the Paralympic swimming club, he was there for just about one year, and he stared to walk again, he became a 1st, 2nd and 3rd medalist, he broke the odds on his first year, he traveled to other states to compete, this happened at age 12. He was an honor student, he once mentioned wanted to become a surgeon, maybe because he knew what he needed for his situation. He still is an honor student as well as his two brothers, the governor from Yucatan, where we live, congratulate all three of them for their achievements. At age 14, he suffered a fall, he was pushed by another peer not knowing what it will cause, after that day he stopped walking again. By that time we had gone to too many doctors, as well as the Shriners Hospital in Mexico City. We traveled for a whole year from Merida to Mexico City back and forth, they were the ones who told us about the exact problem, we were not sad we were happy to know. Now was time to attack the problem, that is when he started swimming, getting his upper body stronger, he has been focusing on getting fit or not to lose muscle mass anywhere in his body. We joined the gym, I tried to keep up with him, and as a result, now the doctors look at him as a strong candidate for surgery. They don't believe he is that strong and fit. Mateo does not have one gram of fat in his body, he is as fit as any normal 16-year-old teenager, I remember my days at age 13 going to the gym in high school and the wrestling team, I want him to join a normal sport team where he is not looked disable or with a situation. He has a kind of balloon of spinal liquid between his spinal cord and his vertebra, it is as large as a sausage, its length covers from T2 to T12 of his vertebra, and has to be removed, his doctor says that his chances to walk normal again is high, but want to be conservative, and every medical exam Mateo has gone through, come out with good results. So, it's time to make this problem go away, the only thing is that we are short on cash, and this is not covered by insurances here in Mexico. That is why as Ayax Mateo's father, I am humbly asking you for your support, anything you can donate it would help, and I will be very much in debt with you. I hope you find it in your heart to help my little boy to become the teenager he deserves to be and have a second chance to walk again, feel free and enjoy life the way it’s meant to be.