New Hope for Andrea to Get Back on his feet

Andrea Calleja got seriously injured in an Obstacle Race competition resulting in a full paralysis and a life confined to a wheelchair. But there is hope for him, with your help.

Stefania Community July 31, 2023 at 10:46 am
  • Description
  • Updates
  • FAQ
  • Backers

Project Description

Most of you already met Andrea (aka Batman) and how in October 2022 he had a life-changing moment when he was taking part in an Obstacle Race that left him unable to move.

Andrea is presently in a rehabilitation hospital in Rome where he has made progress when it comes to the upper body and arms;  in fact, he now has movement in both arms.  However he is still far away when it comes to his lower body and legs.  He is motivated to constantly make improvements. Although he does have his ups and downs and gets infections in the bladder with the result of high fever very often, he doesn’t let this demotivate him.

He still dreams that he can have a normal life as much as possible and challenges himself with any training session he has. He always wants to move a step further, and this is where we ask you for your generous help once again.

His determination made him look at an innovative procedure to stimulate his epidural so that he can move his legs.  This procedure is done in Thailand and it is very expensive but if there is hope Andrea wants to go for it.  He would need to spend at least 7 weeks in hospital as after the procedure, he would start to go through an aggressive rehabilitation programme.

The cost of such procedure is €150K and this does not include the flights as well as lodging for his loved ones who are going to accompany him through this experience. He is scheduled to be in Thailand on the 3rd of November. His wish is that he spends Christmas with his family.

Please view the video above to learn more about Andrea’s progress. Donations can be made by selecting a tier to the right. Every donation helps and is greatly appreciated.

Update:

There have been some updates on Andrea’s operation in Thailand. We got to know that the hospital in Thailand is not backed up by the World Health Organisation. This has put Andrea’s situation in greater risk as if something would have happened whilst in Thailand we would have had problems in getting him back to Europe. The good news however is that we found out that a similar operation has been done recently in Milan. Antonio, Andrea’s father, flew to Milan and met the surgeon himself. The surgeon would gladly do the operation however we have to wait for clearance from both the WHO as well as the EU. At this stage we do not have any date on such clearance so Andrea will be soon moving back to Malta to continue on his rehabilitation here surrounded by the family. During the past weeks, Andrea has passed through turbulent times both psychologically , emotionally and physically with the cherry on the cake being that he got COVID so he had to stay confined into a room by himself for 10 days! However we all know that Andrea is a hero and he came out of this stronger than ever and he is now more determined than ever! He has to wait for the clearance to undergo the operation but he knows that ultimately it is for his own good! WE as a family, and moreover Andrea would like to thank the Maltese population for the continued support given ! We will keep you updated accordingly.

Share Project

Updates

There have been some updates on Andrea's operation in Thailand. We got to know that the hospital in Thailand is not backed up by the World Health Organisation. This has put Andrea's situation in greater risk as if something would have happened whilst in Thailand we would have had problems in getting him back to Europe. The good news however is that we found out that a similar operation has been done recently in Milan. Antonio, Andrea's father, flew to Milan and met the surgeon himself. The surgeon would gladly do the operation however we have to wait for clearance from both the WHO as well as the EU. At this stage we do not have any date on such clearance so Andrea will be soon moving back to Malta to continue on his rehabilitation here surrounded by the family. During the past weeks, Andrea has passed through turbulent times both psychologically , emotionally and physically with the cherry on the cake being that he got COVID so he had to stay confined into a room by himself for 10 days! However we all know that Andrea is a hero and he came out of this stronger than ever and he is now more determined than ever! He has to wait for the clearance to undergo the operation but he knows that ultimately it is for his own good! WE as a family, and moreover Andrea would like to thank the Maltese population for the continued support given ! We will keep you updated accordingly.

Project FAQ

You can keep updated with news about Andrea's recovery on https://www.facebook.com/AndreaCallejaFundraising

show more