人妻少妇专区

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Giuliano de Castro 鈥�20 lives in a house a few miles from the River 人妻少妇专区 with two fellow Rochester students. One is in the doctoral program at the Warner School of Education, and the other is pursuing a master鈥檚 degree in history.

They study together, ride to school together, dine together, and swap family stories. The stories are often the same, because Giuliano鈥檚 housemates are also his parents.

Giuliano was paralyzed from the chest down in a car accident in his native Brazil two years ago. His parents, Gilberto and M谩rcia, moved to Rochester to be his caretakers and decided to further their education at the University. They鈥檙e 5,000 miles from home, three students bonded by hope, love, and college.

鈥淲e fell in love with the campus,鈥� says M谩rcia, who was a professor of engineering before moving to the United States. 鈥淲e were so jealous Giuliano got to attend school here. We moved here to support him after his accident and thought, 鈥榃hy not enroll?鈥欌�欌��

Giuliano and M谩rcia are scheduled to graduate in 2020. Gilberto, a former business executive, hopes to receive his doctorate in education in 2022.

鈥業 can鈥檛 move my legs鈥�

The fall 2016 semester, Giuliano鈥檚 first at Rochester, was a huge success. 鈥淢y roommate was great, my classes were great, and I joined the club rugby team,鈥� the business and economics double major says.

When winter break came, he flew home. It was time to surf, sleep, and reconnect. He celebrated New Year鈥檚 with friends in Buzios, an ocean resort, and left January 3, 2017, for the long drive back home. Giuliano and two friends started out at 5 a.m. to beat the traffic, and he scrunched his six-foot frame on the back seat to sleep. When he awoke, the passenger door near his head was gone, and a stranger was standing in the opening to block the sun from shining on Giuliano鈥檚 face.

Something else was strange.

鈥淚 can鈥檛 move my legs,鈥� he said.

Their car had been totaled after striking another vehicle on the highway. Everyone involved somehow walked away unscathed鈥攅xcept Giuliano. He had fractured multiple vertebrae and compressed his spinal cord, causing him to lose all sensation and movement from the chest down. Gilberto and M谩rcia were six hours away at another resort when M谩rcia received a call from the mother of the friend who had been driving. 鈥淭here鈥檚 been an accident,鈥� the woman said, 鈥渂ut Giuliano is still alive.鈥�

M谩rcia realized something terrible had happened. 鈥淥f course, he鈥檚 alive,鈥� she yelled into the phone. 鈥淲hy wouldn鈥檛 he be alive?鈥�

She and Gilberto began the long drive to reach their son, monitoring his progress through phone calls and texts. Traffic was heavy, and it took eight torturous hours to reach the hospital where Giuliano was receiving medical care. 鈥淚t was a mess,鈥� Gilberto says. 鈥淏ut we made it.鈥�

They rented a helicopter to fly him to Rio de Janeiro for surgery, knowing he wouldn鈥檛 survive another marathon ride on bumpy roads. 鈥淲e were racing the clock,鈥� M谩rcia says. Three weeks later, they endured a 17-hour flight to Chicago, and Giuliano underwent a second surgery at Northwestern Memorial Hospital before being admitted to the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago. He was now a quadriplegic.

鈥淓verything I taught him in his first years鈥攄ressing, bathing, using the toilet, and walking鈥攈ad to be relearned,鈥� M谩rcia says.

Although Giuliano says it was 鈥渁 depressing period in my life,鈥� he remained dedicated to the journey he had started months before. 鈥淚 have to stay in school,鈥� he told his parents.

Learning from afar

M谩rcia emailed Stephanie Krause, codirector of the University鈥檚 International Services Office, to ask if her son could take classes remotely. 鈥淕iuliano is very positive and is looking forward to going back to UR,鈥� she wrote. 鈥淭his is one of his strongest incentives to keep fighting.鈥�

Krause and Molly Jolliff, director of international student engagement, developed a plan to keep Giuliano in school while continuing his rehabilitation in Chicago. They presented it to Richard Feldman, then dean of the College and now president of the University. 鈥淎s a residential college, this isn鈥檛 something we had done before,鈥� Jolliff says.

Once Feldman had given his approval, Jolliff reached out to two faculty members who offered courses that interested Giuliano. She asked them: would they permit him to enroll remotely?

鈥淚 was teaching Big Business in the South: Business History of Brazil for the first time, and I knew Giuliano would be able to follow the course themes and access course materials [online],鈥� says Molly Ball, a lecturer in history with a specialty in Brazil, who also taught M谩rcia in one of her graduate courses last semester. 鈥淚t gives me great joy for the entire family knowing that he continues to improve,鈥� she says.

Mark Wilson, a lecturer in entrepreneurship at the Simon Business School, also worked to accommodate Giuliano鈥攁s did other students in the class. When Giuliano enrolled in Wilson鈥檚 Entrepreneurship 101, a student took video recordings of each class and uploaded them for Giuliano. At the end of the semester, Giuliano went home to Brazil for the summer. When he returned to Rochester in August, his parents came with him鈥攁nd stayed.

Getting around campus

Moving to the United States wasn鈥檛 easy for Gilberto and M谩rcia, but they had the means and the time. Their daughter, Mariana, attended secondary school in England and soon would enroll at the University of Southern California. Two months earlier, Gilberto had quit his job as CEO of Estacio, a higher education company in Brazil, looking for new challenges and more freedom.

M谩rcia took a leave from her job as a professor of engineering at Estacio after the accident. The family rented an apartment in downtown Rochester, in a building with just one elevator. A few months later, they bought a one-story ranch house in Brighton, a suburb close to the University. Gilberto took several classes at nearby Nazareth College to improve his English, and it whet his appetite for being in the classroom. He already had a master鈥檚 degree in industrial engineering, while Marcia has a PhD in the same field. But they craved more, for different reasons.

鈥淲hen I heard about the Warner School, I knew it was an opportunity to help me do better what I鈥檝e done the last 10 years in Brazil,鈥� Gilberto says.

M谩rcia had been devouring literature on spinal cord injuries and needed an outlet. 鈥淚鈥檝e always loved history,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 applied for a master鈥檚 in history, and I鈥檓 so happy. Ever since we saw this campus, I鈥檝e been a Yellowjacket in my heart.鈥�

Each day, they drive to school and split off to their own classes. Giuliano enjoyed vigorous workouts before his injury and still spends hours daily lifting weights and exercising on equipment that uses functional electrical stimulation鈥攁 technique that emits low-energy electrical pulses to artificially generate body movements in people with paralysis.

Each night, they drive home, eat dinner, play with their dog, Chico, and spend quiet hours studying.

Navigating the campus in a wheelchair was a new challenge for Giuliano. He met with Liz Carpenter, access coordinator for the University鈥檚 Office of Disability Resources, to design a plan. Working with the University Registrar, Carpenter now examines Giuliano鈥檚 schedule before each semester to make sure he鈥檒l have time to get from one class to another. 鈥淚f he doesn鈥檛, we鈥檒l move a class closer,鈥� she says.

Carpenter is also responsible for alerting the Department of Facilities and Services about Giuliano鈥檚 paths of travel (and the paths of other members of the campus community who use mobility aids) so that those paths are clear on snowy days. These are accommodations that are both legal requirements and part of a campus culture that values diversity and inclusion. But Giuliano is grateful nonetheless.

鈥淭he people at the University do a lot for me,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey work hard to improve my experience here.鈥�

Wanting to stay active on campus, he joined an international committee in Students鈥� Association government and Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. 鈥淕iuliano never gets mad at his situation,鈥� says classmate Bruno Ribeiro 鈥�20, a close friend from Rio de Janeiro. Ribeiro points to Giuliano鈥檚 steadfast discipline. 鈥淗e鈥檚 not a person of many words, but many small actions.鈥� Those actions include keeping to a daily physical therapy regimen, in addition to excelling in his coursework.

Prognosis: Positive

Doctors originally painted a grim outlook. Giuliano鈥檚 spinal cord injury was classified as type A. 鈥淚t means no hope,鈥� M谩rcia says.

鈥淚t could have been worse,鈥� Giuliano says. 鈥淚 have control of my arms. I could have ended up with no control of anything but my head.鈥�

His chances of walking again were declared slim鈥攂ut that chance has kept him motivated. During fall and spring recesses, he visits the Kennedy Krieger Institute at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore for two weeks. He works out eight hours daily at their International Center for Spinal Cord Injury. He swims, uses a robotic exoskeleton to help him walk, and receives other forms of electrical therapy.

At first, he had no control of his torso and couldn鈥檛 sit straight up. Now, he can. 鈥淭his was the one thing doctors said he鈥檇 never recover, because it was right below the level of injury,鈥� M谩rcia says. 鈥淏ut because of physical therapy and his determination, he got it back.鈥�

His right hand was so weak he couldn鈥檛 hold a pencil. Now, he can shake hands firmly and open jars. He still doesn鈥檛 feel anything from the chest down and checks his skin several times a day to make sure he hasn鈥檛 injured himself. He adjusts his position every half hour to release pressure and prevent his hip bones from damaging his skin. He can鈥檛 move his legs, but M谩rcia recently sent a video of Giuliano contracting his leg muscles to his doctor in Brazil. 鈥淚f you had only told me that, I would not believe it,鈥� the doctor replied. 鈥淚t would have been a mother鈥檚 wish. It鈥檚 kind of miraculous.鈥�

Giuliano doesn鈥檛 know what career he plans to pursue, but as he was applying for summer internships in Chicago, Miami, and San Francisco, he was asked during a Skype interview to describe a situation in which he did the opposite of what everyone told him to do.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 easy,鈥� he said. 鈥淓veryone told me I鈥檇 never walk again, but I never believed them. I will walk again.鈥�

Walking beside him will be his parents.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e super excited about being part of my world here,鈥� Giuliano says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 their world too, now. That makes me pretty happy.鈥�