0:00:01.478,0:00:03.351 Francesca Fedeli: Ciao. 0:00:03.375,0:00:06.907 So he's Mario. He's our son. 0:00:06.931,0:00:09.766 He was born two and a half years ago, 0:00:09.790,0:00:12.979 and I had a pretty tough pregnancy 0:00:13.003,0:00:17.129 because I had to stay still[br]in a bed for, like, eight months. 0:00:17.153,0:00:20.188 But in the end everything[br]seemed to be under control. 0:00:20.212,0:00:23.042 So he got the right weight at birth. 0:00:23.066,0:00:25.189 He got the right Apgar index. 0:00:25.213,0:00:28.274 So we were pretty reassured by this. 0:00:28.298,0:00:35.126 But at the end, 10 days[br]later after he was born, 0:00:35.150,0:00:37.673 we discovered that he had a stroke. 0:00:37.697,0:00:39.543 As you might know, 0:00:39.567,0:00:42.109 a stroke is a brain injury. 0:00:42.133,0:00:44.819 A perinatal stroke could be something 0:00:44.843,0:00:48.734 that can happen[br]during the nine months of pregnancy 0:00:48.758,0:00:51.326 or just suddenly after the birth, 0:00:51.350,0:00:54.223 and in his case, as you can see, 0:00:54.247,0:00:58.415 the right part of his brain has gone. 0:00:58.439,0:01:03.906 So the effect that this stroke[br]could have on Mario's body 0:01:03.930,0:01:07.150 could be the fact that he couldn't[br]be able to control 0:01:07.174,0:01:09.926 the left side of his body. 0:01:09.950,0:01:13.751 Just imagine, if you have[br]a computer and a printer 0:01:13.775,0:01:17.940 and you want to transmit,[br]to input to print out a document, 0:01:17.964,0:01:21.384 but the printer doesn't[br]have the right drives, 0:01:21.408,0:01:24.168 so the same is for Mario. 0:01:24.192,0:01:27.188 It's just like,[br]he would like to move his left side 0:01:27.212,0:01:31.131 of his body, but he's not able[br]to transmit the right input 0:01:31.155,0:01:36.011 to move his left arm and left leg. 0:01:36.035,0:01:38.253 So life had to change. 0:01:38.277,0:01:40.292 We needed to change our schedule. 0:01:40.316,0:01:46.203 We needed to change the impact[br]that this birth had 0:01:46.227,0:01:48.914 on our life. 0:01:48.938,0:01:50.916 Roberto D'Angelo: As you may imagine, 0:01:50.940,0:01:53.212 unfortunately, we were not ready. 0:01:53.236,0:01:57.267 Nobody taught us how to deal[br]with such kinds of disabilities, 0:01:57.291,0:01:59.354 and as many questions as possible started 0:01:59.378,0:02:01.286 to come to our minds. 0:02:01.310,0:02:04.315 And that has been really a tough time. 0:02:04.339,0:02:06.612 Questions, some basics, like, you know, 0:02:06.636,0:02:08.792 why did this happen to us? 0:02:08.816,0:02:10.787 And what went wrong? 0:02:10.811,0:02:13.290 Some more tough, like, really, 0:02:13.314,0:02:14.997 what will be the impact on Mario's life? 0:02:15.021,0:02:17.117 I mean, at the end,[br]will he be able to work? 0:02:17.141,0:02:18.571 Will he be able to be normal? 0:02:18.595,0:02:21.796 And, you know, as a parent,[br]especially for the first time, 0:02:21.820,0:02:25.238 why is he not going to be better than us? 0:02:25.262,0:02:28.516 And this, indeed, really is tough to say, 0:02:28.540,0:02:31.304 but a few months later, we realized that 0:02:31.328,0:02:34.564 we were really feeling like a failure. 0:02:34.588,0:02:37.585 I mean, the only real product of our life, 0:02:37.609,0:02:39.425 at the end, was a failure. 0:02:39.449,0:02:45.351 And you know, it was not a failure[br]for ourselves in itself, 0:02:45.375,0:02:50.089 but it was a failure[br]that will impact his full life. 0:02:50.113,0:02:51.863 Honestly, we went down. 0:02:51.887,0:02:55.398 I mean we went really[br]down, but at the end, 0:02:55.422,0:02:57.292 we started to look at him, 0:02:57.316,0:02:59.541 and we said, we have to react. 0:02:59.565,0:03:02.419 So immediately, as Francesca[br]said, we changed our life. 0:03:02.443,0:03:05.876 We started physiotherapy,[br]we started the rehabilitation, 0:03:05.900,0:03:07.948 and one of the paths[br]that we were following 0:03:07.972,0:03:10.953 in terms of rehabilitation[br]is the mirror neurons pilot. 0:03:10.977,0:03:14.744 Basically, we spent months[br]doing this with Mario. 0:03:14.768,0:03:17.589 You have an object, and we showed him 0:03:17.613,0:03:19.610 how to grab the object. 0:03:19.634,0:03:22.194 Now, the theory of mirror[br]neurons simply says 0:03:22.218,0:03:26.366 that in your brains, exactly[br]now, as you watch me doing this, 0:03:26.390,0:03:28.876 you are activating[br]exactly the same neurons 0:03:28.900,0:03:32.113 as if you do the actions. 0:03:32.137,0:03:36.109 It looks like this is the leading[br]edge in terms of rehabilitation. 0:03:36.133,0:03:39.961 But one day we found that Mario 0:03:39.985,0:03:43.336 was not looking at our hand. 0:03:43.360,0:03:45.910 He was looking at us. 0:03:45.934,0:03:48.105 We were his mirror. 0:03:48.129,0:03:50.153 And the problem, as you might feel, 0:03:50.177,0:03:52.598 is that we were down, we were depressed, 0:03:52.622,0:03:54.970 we were looking at him as a problem, 0:03:54.994,0:03:59.475 not as a son, not[br]from a positive perspective. 0:03:59.499,0:04:02.715 And that day really[br]changed our perspective. 0:04:02.739,0:04:06.035 We realized that we had to become 0:04:06.059,0:04:08.602 a better mirror for Mario. 0:04:08.626,0:04:10.690 We restarted from our strengths, 0:04:10.714,0:04:14.393 and at the same time[br]we restarted from his strengths. 0:04:14.417,0:04:17.091 We stopped looking at him as a problem, 0:04:17.115,0:04:21.491 and we started to look at him[br]as an opportunity to improve. 0:04:21.515,0:04:24.049 And really, this was the change, 0:04:24.073,0:04:27.208 and from our side, we said, 0:04:27.232,0:04:30.355 "What are our strengths[br]that we really can bring to Mario?" 0:04:30.379,0:04:31.951 And we started from our passions. 0:04:31.975,0:04:33.785 I mean, at the end, my wife and myself 0:04:33.809,0:04:35.009 are quite different, 0:04:35.033,0:04:37.097 but we have many things in common. 0:04:37.121,0:04:39.319 We love to travel, we love music, 0:04:39.343,0:04:41.160 we love to be in places like this, 0:04:41.184,0:04:43.245 and we started to bring Mario with us 0:04:43.269,0:04:47.943 just to show to him the best[br]things that we can show to him. 0:04:47.967,0:04:53.144 This short video is from last week. 0:04:53.168,0:04:54.749 I am not saying -- 0:04:54.773,0:04:56.594 (Applause) — 0:04:56.618,0:04:59.238 I am not saying it's a miracle.[br]That's not the message, 0:04:59.262,0:05:01.787 because we are just[br]at the beginning of the path. 0:05:01.811,0:05:05.409 But we want to share[br]what was the key learning, 0:05:05.433,0:05:07.691 the key learning that Mario drove to us, 0:05:07.715,0:05:10.035 and it is to consider[br]what you have as a gift 0:05:10.059,0:05:14.723 and not only what you miss, 0:05:14.747,0:05:18.916 and to consider what you[br]miss just as an opportunity. 0:05:18.940,0:05:21.560 And this is the message[br]that we want to share with you. 0:05:21.584,0:05:25.296 This is why we are here. 0:05:25.320,0:05:27.211 Mario! 0:05:27.235,0:05:28.974 And this is why -- 0:05:28.998,0:05:33.576 (Applause) — 0:05:33.600,0:05:38.798 And this is why 0:05:38.822,0:05:44.284 we decided to share the best[br]mirror in the world with him. 0:05:44.308,0:05:47.218 And we thank you so much, all of you. 0:05:47.242,0:05:49.341 FF: Thank you. RD: Thank you. Bye. 0:05:49.365,0:05:53.178 (Applause) 0:05:53.202,0:05:58.172 FF: Thank you. (Applause)