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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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Hopefully this man has not suffered incapacitating injuries, Falls from scaffolding can be compounded by what’s littering the surface underneath. I’m sure a proper site inspection regards rails was carried out.
Wishing him the best in his recovery.
Great to see a fire based Ems response giving this man the very best of treatment hope he has a speedy recovery
Very rare now to see scaffolding injuries true falling with the arrival of safety harnesses. Makes you wonder if people bother to wear them all the time.
Do you mean through, as in: due to?
@HoneyBadger617: you clip a harness on at least 10 foot above your head or there usless.Thats a bit hard when there’s no even scaffolding built yet.
How do you clip a harness in 10 feet above your head? Are you trained in work at height? Obviously not or you wouldn’t make such a stupid comment
Apologies, read that wrong
The only reason he’d be wearing a harness is if he was building the scaffold. Otherwise he should be working off a fully boarded and handrailed platform. If it wasn’t as scaffolder them one of two things happened, either the scaffold wasn’t safe to use or he wasn’t using correctly. Hope the lad’s ok but incidents like this just shouldn’t be happening in this day and age. Also, that ten foot above your head comment is ridiculous. I wear a harness with a 2 metre lanyard. If I clip on 10ft above my head I’ll be suspended 3ft above the ground!!
@John Strahan: fully trained scaffolder actually
@Keith Fealy: your full of shite
Explain how you can hook on ten feet over your head when a mini block or lanyard only stretches two metres from between your shoulders? How do you even reach 10ft above your head? I’m also a scaffolder so I have a fair idea what I’m talking about. So go have a think about what you meant to say and get back to me.
@Keith Fealy: read the safety instructions that come with it. You could obviously turn yours sideways and stick it up your arse with a better chance of saving you.
I’ll try and put this in as simple terms as possible. A lanyard or mini-block to stretches 2 metres. 10 feet is more than two metres. Therefore it is impossible to hook on 10 feet over your head wearing a normal harness and mini-block/lanyard.
Scaffolders wear harnesses when erecting and dismantling . Scaffolding users i.e. Other trades don’t generally wear harnesses .
False , inertia reels , clip on anywhere .
I already did. You figure it out. You clearly haven’t a fecking clue what you are talking about, but fire away regardless
Your funny
*you’re
have your say