Benefit Concert for Guillermo

2 May 2012

Today, I ended up going to a benefit concert with my new language exchange partner. The concert was for a little boy from Alicante named Guillermo.

Guillermo was born with a lesion in his brain (specifically the cerebellum and cerebral cortex). Due to this lesion, Guillermo's development has been delayed. He's had difficulties with his vision, hearing, and motor skills.  He began life as a happy and calm baby. Now, he has little control over his body. He can barely hold up his head and has seizures frequently.

Since his family could find no one in the public medical system to help him, they have had to look to specialists in the private sector. He's currently undergoing treatment in a private clinic in the other side of the country. His parents need help to pay for these medical expenses.

The family is doing its best to raise money for the costs of his treatments.

They are collecting tapones (plastic caps) at various sites throughout Alicante and other cities in Spain.

Today, they had a benefit concert featuring Marina (a singer from Alicante) and Juan Dorá. Marina had an amazing voice! Most of the songs she sang were covers of songs in English--which was good for me since it meant I understood all of the songs! Juan Dorá sang some covers from his first album as well as a few songs that he has written for his second album. He also had a very powerful voice. I was worried that I'd have trouble understanding the lyrics to the songs because songs tend to be more difficult to understand in Spanish. However, I actually didn't have any problems.

At the end of the concert, there was a drawing for a few tickets to a Hércules basketball game, signed CDs from Juan Dorá and.... a jersey signed by the whole Hércules team!

Today must have been my lucky day because I ended up with a signed CD from Juan Dorá! I got the chance to talk to him for a minute, and he seemed really nice.

If you want to know more about Guillermo or you feel moved to make a donation, you can do so at: http://www.ayudaguillermo.es/