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CEMIC (Norberto
Quirno Foundation, 1234 Talcahuano Street)
Buenos Aires, 26th of December of
2006
I would like to thank Lalor’s family for
inviting me through Ernesto and Amandita Tobilla, it is a great
honor and responsability to speak today about Margarita – Doctor
Mandó said.
“On this meeting we can truly see that “It
is possible”, as Margarita would say. Only the person that “made
it possible” can gather so many wills to remember her and make
her message extensive…”
“I had the privilege of being her Doctor
and why do I say privilege? Because in a time of crisis for
medicine, Margarita freely chose and opened the doors of her
world to me, a privilege that can only be conceded when there’s
honesty and respect between both parts”
Margarita suffered from a disease called “Amyotrophic
Lateral Sclerosis” (ALS) and I’m marking this out because some
newspapers write about other diseases. ALS was described by
Charcot, in the XIX century. It is a neurodegenerative disease
that progresively reduces the strenght of a persons’ body and
atrophies their muscles, most people know its consequences.
Knowing about the disease can help and orientate others.
“An ill person is
an ill family as well, a handicap person is a handicap family…
Under those circumstances one can really see the courage of a
family. And we can truly see the courage of Lalor’s family and
the courage of the people who accompanied Margarita. I would
like to make a special mention to her siblings, because I lived
with a handicapped person, and I know of the responsibility that
a mother assumes when her son or daughter is handicapped. I know
of the sufferings of a mother when it is someone else who has to
take care of her child on her absence. However her siblings
continued their mother extraordinary legacy”.
Margarita was an “Irish warrior” as she
defines herself on her book. One can really see that on her life
and it became more evident during her disease. One has to know
how to live and die, and only the person that knew how to live
can rest in peace.
Last Friday, Alberto Lalor asked me:
Doctor, honestly, what do you think about her book? After some
minutes I said: “It is a great book, but the second book would
have been better” “Which second book?” He asked me, “The one
that during the last period of her disease we insisted she
needed to write”
Saint Exuperic said: “If you want to build
boats, don’t tell them were to get wood, instead, show them the
greatness of the sea”. Margarita on her book showed us not the
tools to fight her incapacity but the greatness of life.
Last Saturday,
Marcella Lalor gave me Margarita’s last writings, that are
really touching; Everyone will be able to read those writings,
but after I finished reading them, a question came to my mind:
What is an angel? “A heavenly being, with no body, full of
kindness, goodness that helps without being asked” and it
reminded me of Margarita.
Dr. Oscar Mandó |
