(4/12) “For Sebastian it was ‘family first,’ always. It was his...

(4/12) “For Sebastian it was ‘family first,’ always. It was his highest priority. So even before I decided to marry him, I knew he’d be a good father. I was less sure if I’d be a good mother. But when we became pregnant with our first daughter Camila, it’s like something inside of me changed. I knew that I’d discovered my purpose. I’d messed up so many things in life, but I’d be a great mom. I’d do whatever was necessary. In the beginning I was so protective of Camila. Too protective, really. It’s like there was always this voice in my head, telling me that something bad would happen. Sebastian was the calm one. He kept reminding me that we needed to have faith. And he was such a good dad. At birthday parties the other fathers would be off with drinks in their hands. But Sebastian was always down on his hands and knees, playing with Camila. He loved that little girl so much. She was such a happy baby. And we were happy too. We had money problems of course, but Sebastian was starting his own furniture company. He just needed a little bit of time. We weren’t that much different from other young families. Our troubles didn’t begin until Camila turned three. One morning she woke up with a small cough, and a bit of a runny nose. Initially we thought it was just allergies. But her breathing problems grew worse over time. There were nights we’d rush to the hospital at 2 AM, just to hook her up to a nebulizer. All of the doctors prescribed the same thing: inhalers and antihistamines. But nothing seemed to work. I lived in constant fear. I couldn’t sleep through the night. And when our second daughter Gala began to show signs of the same condition, I became desperate for other options. But the message from the doctors was always the same: ‘Your only hope is medicine. And if you don’t use it, you’re a bad mom.’ But the medicine wasn’t working, and it was so expensive. So I had to try something else. Cooking had always been my mother’s passion, not mine. I hadn’t created a recipe since childhood. For a long time my diet had been coffee, and crackers, and cigarettes. But now I had no choice. I had to figure out how to love food, for the sake of my daughter.”