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THE FIRST TIME I met Solange Ferreira was in December. She was at a hospital, waiting to hear from a doctor whether her baby boy had what so many in her village were talking about — microcephaly, or an abnormally small head that could be a sign of severe disabilities and a truncated life-expectancy.
I had no doubt that little Jose, born in September, had the condition that many experts believe is linked to the Zika virus. His head was notably small, his skull practically flat.
“Everybody says he has a small head, but I don’t know what’s going on,” Ferreira, a 38-year-old maid, told me while she waited in Caruaru, a city in northeast Brazil, near Recife, where the Zika virus has hit hardest.
Like so many other mothers I have interviewed and photographed, Ferreira asked me what I thought. I said nothing. I didn’t want to be the one to dash her hopes that Jose would be fine.
When she emerged from the doctor’s office, she told me the news. She had come alone to the hospital with Jose, and it was clear she needed to talk to somebody. She didn’t cry, but her sadness was palpable, and she seemed in shock. I asked for her phone number, and she agreed to let me photograph her and Jose the next day.
The bucket
In her small house in Poco Fundo, about a three-hour drive from Recife, I saw a mother struggling.
The boy would scream uncontrollably for long stretches, getting red in the face and tightening his already stiff limbs. He also struggled to feed, something I had learned was common in children with neurological disorders.
When his screaming got so bad that nobody in the house could take it, Ferreira would put Jose in a bucket.
A nurse at the hospital had suggested the technique, and it seemed to calm the child.
“We were lucky to learn about the bucket,” said Ferreira.
Editing my pictures that night was hard. I realised that so many captured Jose suffering, but I didn’t want to just show him in that light.
The pictures of Jose in the bucket would have a large impact on me and on readers around the world. So this week I decided to visit the family again.
Ferreira had moved a few hours away to a town called Bonito while her husband remained in their old village. She said she wanted to be closer to Recife, where Jose can get therapy, and to get away from an area infested with mosquitoes.
“If we had not been there, this wouldn’t have happened,” she said.
In reality, Bonito is no different than Poco Fundo in terms of mosquitoes and the viruses they transmit, such as Zika, dengue and chikungunya. Like many Brazilian women with babies recently born with microcephaly, Ferreira was never tested for Zika, though she says she had the symptoms early in her pregnancy.
Paralysed and blind
This second time I visited, Jose looked worse. Not only did he scream uncontrollably, but one of his eyes convulsed. Ferreira told me that she fears Jose could end up paralysed and blind.
He had lost weight, from seven to five kilograms, a huge drop for a baby who should be growing. Depending on the severity, some children with microcephaly fail to thrive and thus die before becoming adults.
Ferreira cried when she said she had realized that Jose may never run and play like her two older children. I realized then that the full weight of what Ferreira was up against had hit her. This wasn’t a temporary problem, a challenge that would, eventually, be overcome. Now a little over four months old, Jose would need extreme care for the rest of his life.
As I was leaving, a neighbour with an infant about the same age as Jose came over for a visit.
Ferreira looked at the baby and smiled.
“Now I have started believing that it is actually the other babies that have heads that are too big,” she said, in a tone both playful and sad. “Jose is my new normal.”
- Felipe Dana, Associated Press photographer.
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In the last two weeks there has been 3 trains derailed in Canada France and Spain 2 bus accidents in russia and now Italy too many tragedies in a short timespan
A plane crash few weeks ago, train crash last week, now bus crash yesterday…something seriously wrong somewhere!! You’d never see these tragedies years ago.. rip to everyone thats passed away and my sympathies to all families…lets spare a thought for the rescuers, I’m sure its not easy for them either.
You would have seen them happening years ago… and probably more frequently. Its because they happen so rarely now that it becomes big news. To have the train and bus crash in the one week and both in developed European countries is however extremely rare. RIP to the dead.
“The coach had been travelling at high speed” just quoting what is wrote in the article. Anyone who was been on these coaches in Italy can agree there a points when you seriously fear for your life.
Chloe this bus may have been going too fast for this stretch of road but all these buses are limited to about 100kmh so its not break neck speed. The problem is when these buses hit something or roll over the passengers are ejected from the bus & in turn crushed by it. If the bus had been stopped at the top of the bank & rolled down the bank you will still have casualties. Also motorways in Italy are very narrow so one small error & its off into the scenery.
People on pilgrimages having a tough time of it lately.
Another very sad story.
god is great
Not that great… Evidently!
Such a massive tragic reminder life is really fragile.
Wow , lots of red thumbs . So the families shouldn’t take comfort in the fact that their loved ones are in heaven at the side of the Lord .
you’re a horrible excuse for a human being.
All part of his grand plan I suppose , as believers their families can take some comfort from that .
Nows not a good time to trying to be sarcastic..
Nows not a good time to trying to be sarcastic..
These drivers are working to tight deadlines, like the train crash in Spain the driver was behind schedule and was under pressure to make up time or else the passengers would have to be compensated.
This again shows the enormous responsibility our own drivers of these vehicles have and the numerous tight deadlines that they have to meet.
RIP to the dead.
Sorry to inform you Journal.ie but the last major coach crash in Europe took place in Montenegro just a month ago when 18 people lost their lives.
Absolutely awful, horrific. RIP
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