COUNTYWIDE : Parents Caring for Child Given Respite

For more than two years, Maria Fuerte has been as much an intensive-care nurse as mother to her son Gonzalo Jr., who was born with hydrocephalus, a swelling of the brain caused by fluid buildup.

Three times she has brought him back to life using cardiopulmonary resuscitation when the heart machine the youngster was attached to sounded a warning that his breathing had stopped.

And in between emergencies, Fuerte tends to his everyday needs.

But last weekend, Fuerte and her husband got a break from the pressures of caring for Gonzalo Jr., as they become the first couple to take advantage of a local United Cerebral Palsy program which gave them a weekend in a hotel suite donated by the Newport Beach Marriott Suites hotel.

Hotel officials set them up in a suite overlooking the Back Bay and treated them to breakfast. Workers at the Cerebral Palsy office in Santa Ana set up an agenda that included an evening at a local comedy nightclub.

“This is our first vacation since Gonzalo was born,” Fuerte said. Relatives, she said, would take care of her children, including Gonzalo Jr.

Cerebral Palsy officials say the Fuertes aren’t the only family that needs a break.

About 700,000 people under the age of 21 have some form of cerebral palsy and more than 5,000 babies are born with the condition every year, said Alma Mesa, infant program coordinator for the group’s Santa Ana office.

“There are so many parents that have children with full-time needs and their stress levels are so high,” Mesa said. “The need for this program is very real.”

Tailored after a national United Cerebral Palsy program called “Respitality,” which serves 5,000 couples each year, the Orange County office has arranged with the Newport Marriott to provide rooms for two families a month for the next 13 months.

Parents of any child suffering from a disease that requires full-time care are eligible, Mesa said.

Cerebral Palsy officials in Washington say it can cost from $3 million to $12 million over a lifetime to treat a person with cerebral palsy.

But Fuerte said that since Gonzalo Jr. was born, time with her husband has been more precious than money.

“This weekend will be the best Christmas present I could ever have,” she said. “The best present we could give each other is our time together.”