AVGOROU: The moving story of George who has been living in bed since he was 5 years old

ImageHandler Human, Nea Famagusta

These people felt great sadness, pain, frustration and anger.

But they managed to achieve something very important! They have an exemplary, close-knit, dignified family, with social and religious upbringing, with respect for one family member towards the other.

A tortured family but with such an ethos, such love, such self-denial that one deserves to admire but also to imitate! George is so unlucky but also so lucky…

Mr. Panagiotis Simillas, George's father, reports to ant1iwo:
"We are from Avgorou and we have 3 children. My wife and I managed to create a beautiful and close-knit family. We had a calm life and we loved our daily life. But something completely unexpected happened that changed everything. Our son, George, when he was 5 years old had a terrible accident…
George was born on 6/3/1991 and was a very healthy baby boy. He was 5 years old when the accident happened.

On 4/2/1996 we went to a friendly house in Kalo Chorio, Larnaca. Several friends were invited and at one point, my wife and the other girls were inside the house while the men were out in the yard. George was out with us watching the gardener pruning. She even helped him, picked up the falling leaves and put them in the basket. He seemed to enjoy it a lot. We saw him and boasted. The other children were out on the street playing ball. We all had a good time until the bad happened…

I was just 2 meters away from George…
At one point he dropped the twigs he was holding and ran towards the road. I shouted at him: "George back" but my son kept running. I ran after him. In front of the house there was a car parked and my child did not see the car coming from the road but neither did the driver see George. I ran after him and shouted: "Stop George" but my son kept running. Missed…

The car hit him and threw him 18 meters away, threw him 18 whole meters away. My wife, who heard the voices and brakes of the car, immediately ran outside. They were all very scared.

When I took him in my arms, I noticed that George had no marks on his body, no blood. I thought this was very good but unfortunately…
We immediately went to the hospital in Larnaca but due to the seriousness of his condition he was transported by ambulance to the General Hospital of Nicosia. George did not move at all and kept his eyes closed. He opened them shortly before we arrived at the Nicosia General Hospital. The doctors there told us that there was a complete cross-section of the spinal cord. "George will be quadriplegic, only his head can move," they told us. It was the first incident that happened to a minor in Cyprus. We were out of breath, it was like a knife to the soul. The earth was lost under our feet, our son was a small child, only 5 years old…

They spent 3 whole years in the hospitals, full of suffering and difficulties. Fortunately, however, all the doctors and nurses were impeccable both with George and with us. They helped us and supported us. We never forget it and we thank them very much.

Of course, we had to go abroad and specifically to England, where we were hospitalized for 3 months. We went through very difficult situations and our son was tortured a lot all these years.

Today our George is 27 years old and is bedridden, he feeds on gastrostomy (gastrostomy is the creation of artificial communication of the stomach with the skin. drugs directly into the stomach, when for any reason it is impossible or dangerous to swallow them) and we often use mechanical respiratory support. He also suffers from dislocations - from many years in bed - and very frequent infections. "

 Mrs. Androula Simillas, mother of George, states:
"Now for our George we are not only parents but also doctors, nurses, psychologists and loyal friends. Whenever he suffers from infections and pain, we spend the night next to him trying to make him feel better. Our George is our whole life! Our family became even stronger and closer. His brothers matured very early and are always by his side. With the help of God, our spiritual, our relatives and friends, we fight every day because we want to see our George smiling!

To all families facing similar situations…

I hope that power is never lacking in their souls. "Our prayer to God is our true strength, we must always remember that!"

Source: ant1iwo.com