COMMUNITY Anadá Filipitsch has created the Facebook page kat6aportugal, to explain the extremely rare syndrome caused by a gene mutation. The symptoms of this disease are, severe speech disorders, stunted child development, feeding problems, vision problems, hypotony (visual problems), sensory problems, severe gastrointestinal problems, cardiac anomalies and seizures. Despite pre-natal scans no one picked up on Constança's condition until she was born and doctors noticed she had a deformed nose and she was not feeding properly.
Morning Smile
She had a heart operation at six months of age and was found to have microcephaly, and was diagnosed in November 2019 with KAT6A.
A Lagos mother is campaigning to raise awareness about the syndrome KAT6A, which her daughter Constança suffers from.
There are just over 250 individuals with this diagnosis in the whole world but Anadá has already met two other families in Portugal who are dealing with the condition. Each situation is unique, but all of them require a therapeutic, educational and medical
intervention that involves support of various kinds, often costly. Constança is now two but doesn't talk, doesn't walk and has autism (she has all the symptoms of KAT6A apart from convulsions). She does however smile a lot, so her parents have named her parents have named her personal FB page Morning Smile With Constança. She also loves her big sister Carlota and always responds to her voice. Her father José António Soares Nobre is a house painter and Anadá a designer at Gii Home so they cannot afford her first intensive physiotherapy treatment, at CHS - Intensive Stimulation Centre - in Braga. in the same way as Vicente, (featured on page 30) the family can pay for medical help with bottle tops, or you can make a donation. Bottle tops can be delivered to the Gii Home store, Rua Infante Sagres 95/97 in Lagos. Or Anadá can be contacted through her facebook page. +INFO: morningsmilewithconstanca / Kat6aportugal
Blue Flags Flying Across the Algarve region the annual recognition of clean beaches has once again seen numerous beaches attain the coveted status awarded by the Blue Flag Association of Europe (ABAE). In the municipality of Vila do Bispo, 11 flags were awarded in a symbolic ceremony that started on Burgau beach. Beliche, Cabanas Velhas, Castelejo, Cordoama, Ingrina, Mareta, Martinhal, Salema, Tonel and Zavial are the beaches that once again carry the symbol of quality and excellence. In Lagos, the ceremony was marked at Porto de Mós beach, while flags were also hoisted on the beaches of Dona Ana, Luz and Meia Praia. The award attests to the quality of the bathing water in the municipality, the support infrastructures and the information and environmental education actions carried out on the beaches, thus representing the fulfillment of a wide range of environmental, safety and comfort criteria for beach users. In addition to this quality award on the beaches of the municipality of Lagos, Meia Praia was recently highlighted by European Best Destinations, an entity promoting European culture and tourism, as one of the safest beaches in Europe in this pandemic period. Also, in Lagos, the rehabilitation and recovery of the dune cordon of Meia Praia, a project aiming to
18
Follow us on tomorrowalgarve
prevent and manage the coastal risks associated with the dune instability has reached a further stage. Action to deal with the state of degradation of the five km of dunes between the salt marsh of Ria de Alvor and Ribeira de Bensafrim, a situation caused not only by the effect of weather and natural conditions, but also by human action, is set to begin. Meanwhile, the environmental association Quercus has classified Praia da Rocha, Praia dos Três Castelos, Praia dos Careanos, Praia do Vau, Praia de Três Irmãos / Alvor Nascente and Praia de Alvor in Portimão parish, with the Golden Quality Grade due to the high quality of its waters in the last five years. Praia da Rocha was also distinguished for the third consecutive year with the Five Stars Award following a market study that included the opinion of more than 313,000 people. The Prime Minister, António Costa who chose this famous tourist destination for the inauguration of the 2020 bathing season, obviously agreed with them. The beaches of Silves were also distinguished for the quality of their bathing water, receiving the award for the beaches of Armação de Pêra and Praia Grande Poente, where the water has shown excellent quality in the last five bathing seasons.
The Blue Flag of Europe Association (ABAE) recently launched a photographic competition to discover forgotten memories between you and your ocean. The initiative aims to celebrate and value our relationship with the Ocean, which gives us so much, and where we build many memories for life. Photographs must be sent by 30 September to claudio.machado@ cm-viladobispo.pt, which will then be forwarded to ABAE.
